Not Your Average Sailor
by Somebody's Dark Angel
Summary: It was an ordinary day, an ordinary boarding, just another illegal fishing vessel…or was it? “How did the guy manage to shoot two of my sailors when there were six armed personnel on his ship?” Net, SB, MKB
1. Chapter 1

**Not Your Average Sailor**

**By Somebody's Angel**

Summary: It was an ordinary day, an ordinary boarding, just another illegal fishing vessel…or was it? "How did the guy manage to shoot two of my sailors when there were six armed personnel on his ship?"

Disclaimer: If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing fan fiction.

January 12, 2009

1415 hours

RO and Charge pressed firmly on the wounds in her shoulder and leg, but dressing after dressing turned red with Nav's blood. Bomber worked feverishly to set up a saline IV, wondering where the hell Swain was. As soon as Nav went down the captain had told the boarding party to get back to the ship ASAP…that had to have been at least ten minutes ago – the RHIB was within eyesight of the Hammersley for crying out loud!

With the IV finally in the crook of Nav's left arm, Bomber turned her attention to the actual wounds. RO reported that the bleeding from her leg was slowing, so the chef moved up to Nav's shoulder. She cut away the overalls, shaking her head at the thought of the number of her fellow sailors whose uniforms she had cut off in the past year. When both the overalls and undershirt were sufficiently cut, Charge lifted up the dressing and Bomber pulled away the clothes, enabling her to look at the bullet wound in Nav's shoulder.

"Uh, Bomber…" RO's voice was uncertain enough to cause both Bomber and Charge to look up at him. He pointed a finger at Nav's midsection, where the fabric had fallen away to reveal her stomach.

Her smooth, rounded, clearly pregnant stomach.

All three sailors were speechless for a moment, but before anyone could comment the door to the ward room burst open and Swain entered.

"Swain, thank god. Nav was hit twice when that lunatic-" Bomber trailed off when she saw what was behind Swain.

A stretcher, with an unconscious Spider lying on it, blood streaming from his arm.

Swain's eyes widened when he saw Nav's wounds, and he stopped in his tracks at the sight of her abdomen.

Bomber, on the other hand, moved quickly, pulling Swain out of the doorway to let the stretcher inside the room.

Buffer was the lead bearer, and almost dropped it at the sight of the woman lying on the table. Bomber managed to steady him and helped he and Rhino manoeuvre Spider onto the other bed, though not without clumsily bumping RO out of the way.

The second the weight of RO's hand let up, the wound in Nav's leg started bleeding again, much heavier than before. The sight of the red stain spreading over her grey overalls spurred Swain into action, and he took over from RO, his firm pressure causing Nav to cry out in pain.

"I'm sorry Nav, but we need to stop this bleeding. How did this happen, Bomber?"

"Stupid…scared…ET." Nav's voice was croaky and soft, and Swain had to strain to hear the syllables.

"ET's fine, he wasn't hurt." He reassured her, patting her good leg. This calmed her down, and she smiled briefly, then passed out.

As she worked to stabilise Spider's condition, Bomber relayed the events that had occurred on the ship whilst the others were boarding the FFV. Swain watched in amazement as the chef prepared and inserted an IV into the seaman's arm while simultaneously giving a concise account of how Nav had been injured. Whenever he was doing anything medical-related he had to focus all his attention on what he was doing and thus communicating about anything other than that was out of the question. _It's true,_ he thought, _women __**can**__ do more than one thing at once._

"OK, that explains the bullet holes, but what the hell is _that_?" Buffer pointed at Nav's rounded stomach, avoiding actually touching the skin.

Bomber and Swain exchanged a look, both unsure how to break it to him.

"Uh, Buff…she's pregnant." Swain eventually spoke, moving a hand up to touch the small bulge. "Judging from the size, I'd say about…five months along."

Before Buffer could reply the captain and ET entered the room, leaving even less room to move in the already overcrowded ward room.

"Oh my god, Nikki!" ET exclaimed, rushing to her side and almost knocking Charge over in the process. "Nikki…" He repeated softly, moving a piece of hair away from her face.

"Swain what…happened?" From the look on his face, Mike was just as shocked about Nav's pregnancy as everyone else.

"Uh, sir, with all due respect, we're extremely busy here. Request all non-essential personnel leave the ward room immediately. Once they're stabilised we can do a debrief."

Mike nodded, "Right, of course. Charge, RO, you help Bomber and Swain. Everyone else out."

"But sir!" Buffer and ET's protests were simultaneous, though neither sailor had looked at the other since ET's appearance in the room.

"Buff, I need you to take Swain's place in interrogating the fishermen." Mike's request was curt, and left no room for further argument. "ET, I understand you don't want to leave Nav, so you can take Charge's place, provided you are going to _help_, not just stand there." He gave the younger man a meaningful look, and ET instantly stood up straighter and nodded firmly.

"Here, ET, keep pressure on her leg, I've got to change her IV." Swain slapped a new dressing pad onto Nav's leg and pushed ET's hands down over it.

Buffer threw one final glance at Nav's prone form and ET's worried expression, before following the others out of the room.

"Swain…" Bomber's voice wavered worryingly, and he quickly inserted the new bag, leaving RO to finalise the opening of the line while he turned his attention to Spider.

"What's…oh god."

Bomber had just finished cutting Spider's overalls away from his wound, and now the two medics stared in horror at the wound that went all the way _through _his forearm and into his abdomen.

X chose this moment to appear in the doorway brandishing a radio. "Swain, fleet medical have a doctor on stand-by."

He looked over his two patients as she looped a headset around his neck. "Any word on the med-evac?"

The blonde shook her head, "Not yet. There is one helicopter on the way back to base, but it'll need to be refuelled before it can come out. So we're going to meet it halfway, but it'll be at least an hour."

"X, we're not equipped to handle one sailor with these type of injuries, let alone two. They both need to be in surgery ASAP. Not to mention that complication." He indicated Nav's pregnant stomach.

X's face was grave, and she locked eyes with ET for a moment before turning back to Swain. "Just do the best you can, Swain."

He merely nodded and started speaking to the doctor over the headset. Such was their dynamic he didn't even need to ask Bomber to check the blood pressure of their patients – she had the numbers ready by the time he needed to relay them. Both of them were borderline hypotensive, in urgent need of blood, and Spider was probably bleeding internally, but there was no way they could confirm it.

Swain checked Spider's dog tags and his face fell, "He's O-negative."

Bomber looked up from dressing Spider's arm, worry etched into her face. "O-negative, that means he's a universal donor, but…"

"They can only receive blood from other O-negatives." Swain finished, speaking to the captain over the internal radio. "Could you please check with the rest of the crew, I can't check the records while they're both still in danger."

There was silence in the ward room, aside from the crackle of plastic being ripped open as new dressings were applied to the wounds of both sailors.

"O-negative occurs in about ten percent of the population, with twenty people on this ship the odds are pretty good that there's someone else on the ship who can donate." Swain tried to reassure Bomber, who was now bandaging Nav's shoulder with a determined look – he had to admire her fortitude, her ability to operate semi-normally while her boyfriend's life hung in the balance.

"There is someone." Bomber's voice sounded strangely detached considering the words she was saying. Swain and ET turned away from their tasks to look at the female sailor, who was holding Nav's dog tags in her palm. "Nav is also O-negative."

A minute later the confirmation came from the captain – Spider and Nav were the only sailors on board who had O-negative blood. Swain got back online with fleet medical and frantically discussed options with the doctor while RO helped Bomber secure the dressings on Nav's shoulder and Spider's arm.

ET remained motionless, keeping pressure on the still-bleeding wound in Nav's leg and staring at the unconscious form of the woman he loved. From where he sat her swollen abdomen blocked his view of her face, and for the thousandth time he wondered why she had waited so long to tell him about the baby. In fact, he would hazard a guess that if he hadn't found her hunched over the toilet that morning, he would still be in the dark. Intellectually he understood why she hadn't told him immediately – there was no way he would have been able to contain himself, and as soon as his friends knew, so would the rest of the ship, and as soon as the captain knew Nav would have no choice but to take the maternity leave that was required from four months onwards. As a navigator her job wasn't as dangerous as most other sailors, and she spent most of her time on the bridge, thus she had obviously felt she was capable of continuing work. But his heart ached at the thought of her going through early pregnancy alone – the nausea, the tiredness, the cravings.

He also wondered exactly _how_ she had managed to hide everything for this long – ever since the incident with Zuraya, when they had finally defined their relationship, they had spent almost every shore leave together, and he knew he wouldn't have missed the changes in her body. But as he thought about it more, they hadn't had shared leave for a while now – and when they did it was a short time frame, leaving them little time alone. And what about on the ship? She had a roommate, how had Nav managed to hide her expanding stomach from the X?

ET's thoughts were interrupted by Swain slamming his fist against the wall, causing a deep metallic sound to echo throughout the room.

"Shit!" The medic exclaimed, pounding the wall again.

……………………


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

"What, what?" Bomber asked, moving over towards Swain.

Swain paced the room, wringing his hands as he explained, "In an emergency, it's possible to transfuse O-positive blood into a patient with O-negative blood – when the risk of serious harm is greater than the risk of a transfusion reaction."

Bomber smiled, "That's great, forty percent of the population is O-positive, there should be plenty of people to transfuse these two." She moved towards the internal radio.

"Whoa not so fast." Swain placed a hand on her arm, "You're right we can transfuse Spider, but not Nav."

"What do you mean you can't transfuse Nav? Why not?" ET spoke out loud for the first time since the captain had left the room.

"She's pregnant."

"Yeah, so?" ET placed a protective hand on Nav's rounded stomach, keeping the other over the dressing on her leg.

"There's this disease that can occur if a baby has a different Rhesus antigen – that's the negative or positive – than their mother. The mother might produce antibodies against the blood type of the baby, which can be fatal for the child." Swain checked the wound on Nav's leg, and placed a fresh dressing over it, then bandaged it tightly. "If the baby is Rhesus positive and we transfuse Nav with O-positive blood her body will make antibodies, and may end up killing the foetus." He sighed and signalled Bomber to make the call upstairs.

"So you're saying you can't help her? She's losing all this blood and we can't do anything else to stop it…we just have to wait and see?" ET was almost in tears by now, tracing an endless loop over the skin on Nav's abdomen.

"Did someone say you needed blood?" X appeared in the doorway, with Buffer standing behind her.

"Both of you guys are O-positive?" Bomber asked, pulling Buffer to sit down next to Spider.

"Yup, and there are five others on board – just let us know if you need any more." X replied matter-of-factly, settling herself in between the two beds.

"Anyone know how to change their blood type?" ET muttered, reluctantly moving away from the table to give Swain access to Nav's leg wound.

"What?" X looked at Bomber for clarification.

Bomber finished hooking Buffer up to give blood to Spider, taping the needle to the seaman's arm as she answered, "We can't transfuse Nav, it's too dangerous for the baby."

The blonde nodded soberly, and turned back to her friend. She clasped Nav's left hand in both of hers, being careful not to dislodge the IV. "You can get through this, Nikki." She whispered, "I know you can."

……………………

1510 hours

Bomber cracked a couple of eggs and folded them into the muffin mixture. The swirls of vanilla blurred as her thoughts rampaged through her brain. She couldn't keep her attention on anything except Spider, lying unconscious in the ward room. At last check his blood pressure was closer to normal, but it was still too low – there was nothing they could do about his internal bleeding.

The oven timer dinged, and she pulled on her oven mitts, extracting two trays of choc-chip muffins. Cooking had always soothed her, the way she controlled everything and didn't have to depend on others. It was so different to the Navy, and helped balance her life.

Lately, that balance had been tilted by the addition of a certain scruffy-haired seaman.

Her relationship with Spider was not yet six months old, and yet she felt a connection that she hadn't felt with anyone else. They had many things in common, but they were also different enough to make things interesting. He kept on her toes and challenged her every chance he got. She knew they would always have their differences, but that was what convinced her it would last between them; they would never bore one another or get so similar that they would feel they didn't have to try anymore.

She thought about their date last night. They had gone out to dinner and then taken a walk along the boardwalk near the beach.

…FLASHBACK…

Bomber stopped in front of an ice cream shop. "What do you say to a scoop of chocolate fudge?" she asked with a playful glint in her brown eyes. "My treat."

"I say yes to the ice cream and no to you paying," Spider answered, pulling his wallet from his back pocket.

"Spider, let me pay," Bomber insisted, attempting to take his wallet off him. "What's the rule? Whoever asks, buys."

"I hate that rule," Spider admitted with a smile as he pulled out a ten and handed it to the man behind the register.

Bomber let out an exaggerated sigh and crossed her arms across her chest. "You just hate that rule because it hurts your big macho ego." She nudged him in the ribs lightly. "Not that it was all that huge to begin with." She added in a low tone, just loud enough for him to hear over the noise of the shop.

"And you just love it because it builds up your feminist one," he countered, taking the two ice cream cones from the shop assistant and ignoring her second comment.

"No," Bomber corrected with a teasing smile, "I just love it because you're the one who does most of the asking." She took the cone he offered her and smiled at him affectionately – the cone he had given her was her favourite flavour, boysenberry swirl, which he had gotten without having to ask.

"Oh, so that's how it is?" he chuckled as they continued their walk. "In that case, fork over ten bucks." He held out his hand expectantly.

"Uh-uh," Bomber grinned, licking the side of her cone. "I offered to pay, but you refused. Guess you're outta luck, buddy."

Spider laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist, stealing a lick of her cone as he did so.

"Hey! That's _mine_. Eat your own." She retaliated by taking a bite out of his.

"You took a chunk of fudge! A big one too!" He attempted to get another taste of hers, but she held her cone away from him and kissed his searching mouth instead.

They took their cones to a nearby bench, both practically devouring their ice creams. Where Bomber was clean and tidy, Spider was a mess with the chocolate. It was all over his face and on his chin. He reminded her of a one-year-old trying to feed himself.

"Spider, you eat like you're three."

"Hmm?"

"It's all over your face!"

He dipped his finger into his quickly melting ice cream and looked over at her slyly – she was concentrating on finishing her cone. He moved quickly, smearing the sticky chocolate across her lips, chin, and part of her cheek. She squealed in shock and tried to get away from his chocolate-covered fingers. Suddenly she found herself underneath Spider, a wicked grin on his face and cone in hand.

"Billy, don't you dare!" she exclaimed as he threatened to pour some of the now-melted ice cream on her. "I will kill you and make it look like an accident!"

"I'm sure you would, Bec," he chuckled.

He smeared some across her neck and came precariously close to the edge of her shirt, eliciting a horrified gasp from her. He smirked down at her victoriously and he knew he was going to pay for it. Bomber wrestled him off her and ran away, laughing.

Spider finished his cone in three bites, eating as he chased after his girlfriend. Unfortunately the movement caused more fudge to drip down his fingers and onto his shirt, making him look even more like a child.

He probably should have been suspicious when she waited for him at the edge of the parking lot – she hadn't yet gained her revenge. But, due to naivety or wishful thinking, he wasn't at all apprehensive about approaching her, even when she allowed him to precede him towards the car.

"Keys?" Bomber asked, causing him to turn towards her.

"Keys?" Spider replied, raising an eyebrow. "Umm…I don't think so. My car, I drive."

"Oh really?" She said as she walked towards him.

Spider watched her carefully and, having a bad feeling about her plans, backed up. But Bomber had out thought him, he quickly realized, as his back bumped up against his eight-year-old Toyota Corolla.

"No, NO!" Spider protested as she moved closer and closer. "Come on Bec…"

Bomber leaned forward, placing one hand behind his head, pulling it down. At first he protested, before giving in, leaning forward for the kiss. The kiss that never came. Her other hand had been busy, sinking into his jeans pocket, pulling out his keys. She waved them in front of him as she pulled back teasingly, before moving away and entering the car. Spider just leaned against the Corolla stunned for a moment before he too moved, and entered the car on the passenger side, buckling his seat belt as Bomber pulled out of the parking lot.

They drove in silence for a few minutes before Bomber spoke up. "What, now you're not talking to me?"

"Hey, that…that was cruel and uncalled for and – and cruel…" Spider protested, refusing to look at Bomber.

"Oh my god," Bomber gasped, almost getting Spider to turn around and face her, but she spoke before he could move. "You're pouting. You're honestly pouting."

"No I'm not," Spider immediately protested, turning to look at her.

"Oh yeah you were, admit it. You, Billy Webb, were pouting," Bomber said, taking one hand off the steering wheel to point at him and laugh.

"Hey," Spider grabbed her hand, pointing her finger away from him, before prying her fingers open, and weaving his through hers. He sighed, holding her hand tightly in his as he stared out his window.

…END FLASHBACK…

Bomber sighed as she moved to the fridge, choosing a punnet of thawed blueberries to add to her muffins. She only hoped that Spider would be able to join her on many more nights like the previous one.

…………………


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

1430 hours

By the time Swain and Bomber had patched up their patients, Nav's leg had stopped bleeding, and Spider had received as much blood as was safe to transfuse at one time. Thus with both sailors relatively stable Mike called a meeting – held in the senior sailors mess rather than the bridge to ensure Swain could get back to the ward room quickly if needed.

An unimpressed RO was left to oversee the patients, though ET practically had to be hauled away from Nav's side.

"OK, first things first, X, Buffer, what happened on that FFV?" Mike began, spreading his palms on the table, "Navcom said these guys were illegal fishermen."

"It seems our intelligence was wrong. They were better armed than any fishermen I've ever come across." Buffer replied.

"That's because they weren't fishermen." X continued, "ET and I found 200,000 US dollars, and I'm pretty sure it's counterfeit."

Buffer spoke next, he and X exchanging lines without pause. "I interrogated the skipper, he claims he doesn't know who the actual counterfeiters were. Said they were just the couriers, took the money from Bali to Brisbane and distributed it."

"And you believe him?" Mike asked, doubt filling his voice.

"I do." Buffer leaned back in his chair and crackled his knuckles, "There's no way he's lying, I made sure of that."

"So how did the other guy manage to shoot two of my sailors when there were six armed personnel on his ship?"

"We cleared the decks, the guy must have hidden somewhere…"

…FLASHBACK…

1345 hours

Nav and Mike watched from the bridge deck as the RHIB approached the fishing vessel. The _Hammersley_ was pretty close to the other boat; it had stopped when requested, and thus the Navy weren't trying to hide under pretence. This in itself caused Nav to be wary – when was the last time illegal fishermen had yielded to the request of the authorities?

As always, Buffer was the first to board, with X and Swain close behind. They secured the aft deck easily, then fanned out to clear the other areas of the boat.

ET and Spider moved to the front of the ship, one on each side of the main cabin. The two of them checked the foredeck and the area above the cabin, then went back to where X was now interrogating the master of the ship.

"All clear, X." ET reported, he and Spider holstering their weapons.

A moment later Swain and Buffer returned to the deck, pushing a man in front of them. "Found this guy below, X. Confiscated his weapon."

The interrogation continued, answers rather garbled – either the crew didn't speak English or they were pretending. They were tanned, Caucasian and didn't look at all confused, so Buffer was inclined to think they knew exactly what the X was trying to say. This made him suspicious for two reasons: firstly, in his experience illegal fishermen were almost always down-on-their luck sailors of Asian extraction, and two, if they weren't illegal fishermen they had to be doing something worse, and yet they had willingly succumbed to the Navy's request.

Eventually X grew frustrated with the non-answers she was receiving. "OK, we'll continue this on the Hammersley. Swain, Spider you two do a thorough search of below deck. Buff, ET get these guys back to the ship."

Before anyone could move, the second fisherman doubled over in a coughing fit. Swain rushed to his side but, strangely, he seemed to recover the moment the medic helped him sit up.

On the _Hammersley,_ Nav swung her binoculars away from the now-resolved commotion on the fishing vessel and focused on a certain sailor with curly blonde hair. The two boats were so close she barely needed binoculars to see him, but using them afforded her a level of discretion she wouldn't have otherwise had. She smiled to herself when he looked straight at her – if she didn't know better she would have sworn he could tell she was perving on him. Over ET's shoulder she had a good view of the foredeck…but even Nav couldn't say where the man came from.

One second the deck was clear, the next a man with a gun was sneaking up behind the man she loved. She didn't think, didn't move, but her mouth yelled "ET!" at the top of her lungs.

It seemed like it happened in slow motion – she called out, the gunman turned towards her, and he fired three shots. She didn't hear the sound of the shot, only saw the gun jerk and the muzzle flash as he fired.

A white-hot pain seared through her shoulder, then she heard a metallic clink, and another pain flared in her leg. She was still trying to comprehend what had happened when she saw the clear blue sky above her. Just as it registered in her brain that she was falling, she felt something hit the back of her head and everything went black.

The second they heard the shots everyone on the fishing vessel turned towards the noise, the Navy team grabbed their own weapons. Swain, ET and an able seaman nicknamed Halfy moved towards where the shots had come from while Buffer, X and Spider covered the other 'fishermen'.

All three were following ET, Swain and Halfy with their eyes, thus the next shot, from the other side of the cabin, caught them by surprise. It ricocheted off the railing beside the X, and the second one hit Spider as he reached for his own gun. There was no chance to take a third shot, for Buffer and X fired simultaneously, both of them hitting the gunman in the chest.

He went down instantly, and Buffer relieved him of the gun that had caused all the trouble.

X moved to help Spider, but he called out, "X, behind you!"

She turned and trained her gun on the skipper of the boat, who was a lot closer than he had been ten seconds prior. "Don't even think about it!"

It was at this point that X heard the captain's voice in her ear, and for a moment she was confused as to why no-one else on the boat reacted. Then she realised he was using the private channel assigned to the leader of the boarding party. "What the hell's happening over there? Nav's been hit, get Swain back here ASAP!" The instant she heard the words X knew why Mike hadn't broadcast to the entire boarding party – they had a job to do on the boat, and neither ET nor Buffer would be able to do it if they knew Nav was injured.

"Swain, Buffer, get Spider back to the ship, and take these guys with you." X indicated the two men whom Buffer and ET were handcuffing. "ET, Halfy and I will do a thorough search of the boat. These guys aren't just illegal fishermen, and I want to know what they're doing." She heard her voice harden with the last sentence, and had to bite her lip to prevent herself from yelling at the prisoners in front of her. She blinked hard to prevent the tears from springing to her eyes – Nav was her friend, and the thought of her being injured because of these scumbags was incredibly upsetting.

Buffer had apparently heard the edge in her voice, for he held her gaze longer than he should have, and she had to turn away lest he see the truth in her eyes.

…END FLASHBACK…

Mike nodded soberly when X and Buffer finished their narrative. "OK, from what you've told me there should be no problem with the shooting – classic self-defence. However there is something that Navcom will have an issue with." He folded his hands and looked hard at ET. "It's against Navy regulations for a pregnant sailor to be serving on a ship after the four month mark. I presume you are the father?"

ET leaned forward and rested his palms on the table, "That's right." He paused, searching for the right words. "I didn't know…she…I only found out this morning."

Buffer scoffed, "Yeah right."

"What, you really think I would have kept it from you guys for this long?" The tension that had been simmering ever since Buffer had found out about Nav's condition finally came to the surface. ET slammed his hands down on the table and stood up, leaning over so his face was mere inches away from Buffer's. "You think that I was trying to spite you, to keep you out of our lives? You're a huge part of both of our lives, I wouldn't do that, _Nikki_ wouldn't do that to you."

"Yeah, so you'd have told me the same way you told me you were dating?"

"Oh come off it, we both know you don't want to know every single detail." He shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

"Sit down, both of you." Mike didn't yell, just calmly placed the order, and his tone – nicknamed his 'captain' voice by Nav and X – made both sailors immediately obey.

While Buffer and ET continued to glare at one another, Swain addressed X. "You didn't notice anything? Nausea, tiredness, maybe morning sickness?"

X shook her head ruefully. "Not really. We've been on different watch schedules for the past couple of months, so I haven't been around when she wakes up. She was sick a couple times, but claimed it was a virus."

"These overalls aren't exactly figure-hugging," Bomber added with a smile, plucking the grey fabric that covered her own abdomen, "It would have been pretty easy to hide her belly."

Her words and gesture had the intended effect, breaking the tension and making everyone mirror her smile.

However the smiles faded moments later when RO called for Swain. The obvious desperation in his voice caused Bomber's face to go white, and she bolted out of the room before Swain had even risen from his chair.

………………………


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

_However the smiles faded moments later when RO called for Swain. The obvious desperation in his voice caused Bomber's face to go white, and she bolted out of the room before Swain had even risen from his chair._

She burst into the room to find that the dressing covering Spider's stomach wound was red with blood. Grabbing more field dressings from the supply cupboard next to the door, Bomber raced over to help RO. The second she pressed the pad to the wound she felt the rigidity, and when she lifted the dressing slightly she could see the bruise forming under the skin. Spider was definitely bleeding internally, but as he also had a hole in his abdomen some of the blood was exiting his body.

They couldn't do anything internally, so her only option was to continue applying pressure and try to stem the flow of blood. Swain readied a bag of blood for another transfusion – luckily they had thought ahead and bagged blood from X while Buffer was donating directly.

"Come on Billy, don't give up on me." Bomber whispered into his ear, stroking his forehead.

Swain turned his eyes away from the private moment, and found ET fussing over Nav, who was now awake.

He moved to her side, and picked up her hand. "Hey Nikki."

She smiled, "Hi." She squinted and turned her head, "What's that ringing?"

"Ringing? Are you dizzy at all, Nav? Vision blurry?"

Nav nodded, then made a face and vomited into the bucket ET held out for her.

"Nausea, dizziness, blurry vision, ringing in the ears; I'm pretty sure you've got a concussion, Nav. Did you black out after you were shot?"

"I was shot?" Confusion flared in her eyes, then fear took over and she gripped ET's hand more tightly.

"Captain said she did black out, but only for a minute." Bomber answered Swain's question from across the room. "By the time I got upstairs she was awake."

"OK, so it's probably mild. You'll have to have a CAT scan, but I doubt it will be a problem. You just need to rest." Swain smiled at ET when Nav immediately closed her eyes.

He turned back to Bomber and RO, and was pleased to see them redressing Spider's wound – it had stopped bleeding once again. He checked his watch – 1440, it would be at least another half an hour before the helicopter would arrive. He hoped that his patients could hang until then.

Rapid breathing from behind him caused Swain to spin back to the other table, a millisecond before ET called out. Nav was taking quick, short breaths, almost hyperventilating.

"Nav?" Swain moved to check her eyes, which were still closed. "Her pupils are dilated, and her skin-" he placed a palm on her cheek, which was cool and moist to the touch. "-it's clammy. She's going into shock! Bomber, get the oxygen, ET, I need a bag of Dextran and another of Ringer's Lactate."

All three quickly went into action, with Swain setting up a second IV, to enable both fluids to be admitted simultaneously. It was now a race against time; Nav's body vs. the clock and the med-evac helicopter.

……………………

1510 hours

While Bomber baked away her frustrations, ET was out on the foredeck, pounding his punching bag for all he was worth. With each hit a different face appeared on the leather in front of him – those people that his irrational mind was blaming for Nav's current state. Each of the three 'fishermen', the CO, X, Buffer, himself, even Swain and Spider, and each time he was able to come up with a reason – however illogical – for going through with the hit.

So involved was he that a voice behind him caused a roundhouse kick to miss the bag, and the momentum made him fall in a heap at the speaker's feet.

X could see the effect the day was having on the junior sailor in front of her, had seen the exhaustion in his movements a moment ago, how now – with the adrenaline filtering out of his bloodstream – he could barely move. She knelt down beside him, and when he looked up she was startled at the incredible anguish in his eyes. Instantly all her fears about her friend's relationship evaporated – obviously ET loved Nav just as much as she loved him.

"Why didn't she tell me, X?" He asked, blue-grey eyes pleading for her to explain what the object of his anguish couldn't. "She's 28 weeks, she's known for _four_ months, and she only told me because I saw her throwing up this morning."

Surprised at how far along Nav was, X took a moment to think of an appropriate reply – no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't give ET the answer he needed to hear. "I can't believe I didn't see it. I share a room with her for Christ's sake."

"She's always been good at keeping secrets, growing up with four brothers who have no concept of privacy." The half-smile on ET's face dropped as he hung his head and cradled it in his palms. "I just never thought she'd intentionally keep something like this from me. It kills me to think of her going through it alone. She must have been so scared when she found out…we've never even talked about it…" He continued to ramble, having apparently forgotten about X next to him.

She just sat quietly, allowed him to let it all out, whilst she pondered many of the same topics. She thought of Nav as a friend, and weren't friends supposed to talk about these kinds of things? A few months ago she herself had confessed to Nav her conflicting feelings about two men aboard the ship. It was a knife through the heart to realise that while she and Nav had been gossiping about her love life, the navigator had kept quiet about her own bombshell. X had trusted Nav to keep her secret, and it hurt to find out that Nav hadn't trusted her in the same way. Hadn't she already proved her trustworthiness, in keeping mum about her relationship with ET?

"-X?"

The use of her name brought her out of her reminiscing, and she blinked – ET was now focused on her, obviously waiting for an answer to a question she hadn't heard. "What was that ET?"

If he noticed the sheepish tone in her voice, ET didn't react, simply asked his question again. "She'll be OK, right?"

About to pull out her standard, "I'm not a doctor" line, X saw in his eyes that he didn't want a real answer, just reassurance. "She's going to be fine, Josh." She surprised herself by using his first name, but saw in his face that the words had more meaning that way. "She'll get patched up, have the baby, and you guys will be great parents."

Obviously it was the wrong thing to say, for he started crying. "The baby…I never thought…how could she have put our child at risk like that?" Now he was angry, but the tears still ran down his face. "Staying on the ship like she did… we put ourselves in danger all the time, and that's our choice as adults, but she put our baby in harm's way! What if she dies, X, and she takes the baby with her?"

His tear-filled eyes reminded her of a stormy sky, and she struggled to keep her own tears at bay. He moved towards the punching bag again, but she grabbed his fists, already red and bruised form his earlier exertions.

"She's not going to leave you alone, ET."

"You don't know that! She lost all that blood, and we can't give her any, and we're miles away from the nearest hospital!" He broke away from her grip and swung at her, only to have an even bigger hand grab his fist.

"You don't want to do that, ET."

ET didn't register the actual words, only the threat behind them, similar to the one he had heard almost two years ago.

"I think you should go keep Nav company, tell her how much you l…you care about her." Buffer couldn't squeeze the word 'love' past his lips, even though he now had no doubt that ET _did_ love Nav.

The technician opened his mouth to argue, then thought better of it and walked away.

"He really does love her, you know." X commented, apparently unshaken that a crewmember had almost punched her.

"Yeah, I know. I saw most of the little exchange, the emotion looked real…he's not that great an actor."

The lame attempt at humour fell flat when neither smiled, X turning away and wrapping her arms around her torso.

"Oh Buff, how could she have kept this from him, from all of us? And to find out now, when she's so badly hurt…she can't die on me…she just can't."

Though she didn't actually cry, her voice did crack, and this was enough for Buffer to envelop her in his arms. He didn't speak – empty platitudes weren't what either of them needed right now – simply stroked her hair and held her.

While most of her thoughts were on Nav, fighting for her life below deck, the warmth of Buffer's arms caused a small part of X's brain to jump around excitedly. Then she inhaled deeply, and the smell of him threw her mind back 6 years. At this moment in time Buffer smelled the same way Mike had smelled all those years ago, when she was a fresh-faced sub-lieutenant and he an experienced XO. And once again her heart was torn between old feelings and new ones.

She sighed; it was times like these when she wanted to run to Nav and gossip. The realisation that she couldn't; that she may never again get the chance to lie on her bunk, giggling as Nav told her stories of the boys before her arrival; this caused the tears to finally flow.

It was the outpouring of emotion that finally showed her how exhausted she was, and her body sagged until Buffer was basically holding her upright. He lowered the two of them to the floor, and when X felt wetness in her hair she realised that her tears had been the trigger for his.

Buffer couldn't explain why he was crying, most especially why he had allowed the tears to fall while X was around. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so many emotions all at once; guilt, worry, jealousy, anxiety and a hundred other things swirled around in his head.

But the emotions that were having the most effect on him at that moment were the feelings that ran through him when he put his arms around X. These same feelings had been plaguing him for quite a while; ever since his near-death experience at the hands of Ray Walsman. Nothing significant had happened, but he found himself holding her gaze for a moment longer than was proper, and he looked for excuses to touch her; helping her take off her body armour after a boarding, steadying her while on the RHIBs, sitting near her during briefings.

It was only now, with Nav injured and pregnant, that he realised why he hadn't done anything about his feelings for X. The strength of the jealousy he felt when he first saw Nav's swollen stomach had stunned him. It was almost two years since she had rejected him, and it was clear that she had since fallen head over heels for ET. But apparently his heart had still harboured hope that Nav would return his feelings eventually, and thus these new feelings for X had him totally confused.

He was sure about two things: 1) he was in love with Nav, and 2) she was in love with ET. His head knew these facts, and yet try as he might he couldn't force his heart to understand. Yes he had dated since that fateful voyage without Thor, however he hadn't felt much of anything beyond physical attraction. It was this part that caused him the most confusion – were these new feelings for the X purely physical, or was it something more?

Buffer pulled out of the embrace slightly, enough to see X's face in the afternoon sunlight. Sea-green eyes, blonde hair, angular features; about as far from Nav's rounded, Italian features as a Caucasian could get. He blinked and pulled away entirely, quickly leaving the deck so he wouldn't have to explain his actions.

For her part X just watched him go, her own stomach twisting in confusion at what she was feeling.

……………………


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

1600 hours

Buffer moved slowly down the hallway, towards the bow of the ship. He glanced at every door he passed, as if he was looking for a specific room. But he knew exactly where he was going; the most forward cabin, door on the right.

When he reached the door he stood there, staring at the polyurethane surface. As was typical of the Navy, the occupants of the room had added their names beneath the plastic tag of "J.S. Cabin". The piece of masking tape that held his focus was the second from the bottom, and there was no name on it, just a crudely drawn spider and web.

Though twelve years younger, and with a penchant for getting himself into dangerous situations, Spider was more of a friend to Buffer than anyone else he had commanded. Eager to please, with a healthy respect for the rules, but also willing to disregard them when necessary, Buffer saw a lot of himself in the young seaman. Could see his progression a mirror of his own; despite stupid pranks his hard work and dedication would have to be rewarded eventually.

And now all that potential was hanging in the balance because he hadn't cleared the ship correctly. It was said that hindsight was 20/20, but Buffer couldn't be sure that he had finished searching the below hold. As near as he could remember, when he and Swain had found the man hiding they had relieved him of his weapon and escorted him upstairs. Looking back, Buffer supposed that if there had been one man hiding below, there could have easily been two.

Tearing his eyes away from Spider's spider, Buffer started making his way back to his own cabin, only to stop one door up. This door was open, the mess that four young men made daily on display for the whole ship to see. This time the name he looked at was the topmost piece of tape, and it had just two letters on it.

The owner of said tape was the only man in the room, lying on his rack and staring at a photo. Buffer didn't need to see the surface to know the subject of the photo. He stepped into the room, and the sound of boots on the floor caused the occupant of the room to look up.

At the sight of the man in the doorway, ET tensed up. He had been avoiding Buffer ever since the incident up on deck where he had almost punched the X. ET cursed himself for doing it; though everyone pretended there was no gender difference in the Navy, you didn't just take a swing at a female sailor, let alone an officer. And to have Buffer catch him…there was no-one on the ship more respectful of the female sailors – and no-one more protective.

"How are you holding up, mate?" Buffer asked, and his friendly tone, along with the use of the word 'mate', allowed ET to relax – marginally.

"I'm alright. How're Nikki and Spider?" ET hadn't gone to see them off in the helicopter – aside from wanting to stay away from Buffer and X, it would have been too hard to see the woman he loved be taken away and know he couldn't follow.

"They got away alright. Paramedics brought some O-neg blood, so they were transfused before they were moved." Buffer didn't mention how fortunate this transfusion was – Nav's leg had started bleeding again as soon as she was moved, but she was now in professional hands, and there was no reason to worry ET even further when there was nothing he could do. He glanced down as his feet, watched his boots shuffle back and forth for a moment before looking back up at the leading seaman in front of him. "Look, ET, I want to apologise for what I said earlier. I had no right to say those things."

For a moment ET was confused – what had Buffer said that was more out of line than him taking a swing at a female officer? But then he realised Buffer was talking about even earlier, in the briefing.

Before ET could reply, Buffer continued, "You were right, I know you wouldn't keep so huge a secret out of spite. I just…it hurt to know that she didn't trust me with this."

ET swung down from his bunk to stand in front of the older man. "I know what you mean. Even if she wasn't sure how to tell me, I can't believe she didn't tell _anyone_, not you, not X." He turned back to his rack, picking up the photograph he had been staring at. "It must have been so hard to go through everything by herself…" He ran a finger over the picture, then passed it to Buffer.

It was a professional black and white print, of he and Nav. They wore plain tee shirts, his white, hers black, and jeans, feet bare. Nav was lying flat on her back, laughter showing plainly on her face as she looked up at ET, hovering over her.

Though it pained Buffer to have actual visual proof of their relationship, he took the photo in his hand. He smiled at the look of the absolute bliss he saw on Nav's face; as much as didn't like the fact that she had chosen ET, he was glad that she was happy.

Buffer looked up to find ET looking at him anxiously; obviously the blonde wanted to know if the earlier tension was still simmering. For a moment he thought about starting something…but what would more conflict achieve? Even if he did beat ET in a fistfight – which he had no doubt he would be able to do – Nav had already chosen her prince, and it wasn't him. So instead he chose to be the friend Nav needed him to be, "Don't hurt her, ET."

The leading seaman opened his mouth to comment, but then he saw the look in Buffer's eyes. Though the threat had been in his voice, there was a sadness in his eyes that surprised ET. He didn't know what to make of it, and with tension still lurking under the surface he didn't want to ask, so he just nodded in acknowledgement.

Buffer hadn't intended to show his emotions so openly, and it scared him that the mere thought of Nav was able to bring it out in him. He fled the room, lest ET should ask about what had just transpired.

Returning to the cabin he shared with Swain, Buffer found the medic sitting at their desk, staring at the laptop in front of him.

"News from home?" Buffer asked, unsnapping his overalls and pulling them off his shoulders. He had been busy ever since the shootings, and his clothes were still streaked with Spider's blood.

Swain didn't answer, eyes still locked on the screen in front of him, mouth hanging open.

Buffer pulled off his boots and socks, then turned back to his friend, "Swaino?"

"Read this." The coxswain replied, turning the laptop to face his friend.

Sure enough the open program was an email application, and Buffer could see that the email Swain wanted him to read was from Sally. "Uh, mate are you sure you want me to-" He was cut off by Swain's firm nod, the medic's expression telling him it was important. "OK, fine."

He skimmed the email, skipping over mentions of Chloe's latest achievement – she could now say her own name properly, having finally mastered the 'Cl' sound – and a girly day with Nav – "Hang on…" He reread the part about Nav.

_I know Nikki'd kill me if she knew I told you, but I'm worried about her, Chris. She's six months pregnant, trying to hide it from all of you, and I can see in her face how exhausted she it. I don't think she's even told ET yet, and all the secrecy is taking its toll. You saw how much rest I needed in the second trimester, well Nikki's trying to keep going at full throttle and I know she won't last much longer. It'll cause all kinds of trouble for her when the Navy finds out about her and ET, but I know an upfront admission would be better than if something bad happens and they find out accidentally. Please talk to her Chris, try to get her to tell Mike._

Now Buffer's face was as gobsmacked as Swain's five minutes ago. "Sally knew?"

"Sally knew." Swain confirmed, taking back the laptop and scrolling through previous emails. "I've been looking through her old emails, she's been hinting at it for a while; always asking how Nav is, telling me how good she is with Chloe, even that she saw her at the obstetrician's office." He shook his head and chuckled at his own obliviousness. "Apparently she figured out I wasn't getting the hints. They've been spending a lot of time together lately, I was just glad they were finally becoming friends."

Buffer sat down heavily on the lower bunk, still in shock. "Sal was the only who knew."

Swain shrugged, "Nav didn't want to tell anyone on the ship, and it's not like she's got close friends or family up here."

"But _why_ didn't she tell any of us, Swaino? We're her friends, we could have helped her."

Swain could hear in Buffer's voice that the use of plural pronouns was merely for show – he was talking about himself. "You're a great friend to her, Buff." He started, pausing to allow the other man to nod. "But would you have lied to the boss for her?"

The stiffening of Buffer's shoulders and the hesitation was exactly what Swain had been aiming for.

"If she'd told you, wanted you to help keep the secret, you would have been covering for her and having to lie to everyone else."

Buffer had to admit he hadn't thought of the situation this way. He had been so consumed with the fact that she hadn't told him, it hadn't occurred to him that she may have been trying to help him. He contemplated the situation quietly as he finished pulling off his overalls.

They had been friends and roommates for so long that Swain didn't even blink at the sight of Buffer in only his boxer shorts, simply continued the conversation. "And that's not even mentioning all the shit that's gonna hit the fan when Navcom find out. The father of her child is not only on the same ship, he's-"

"-her direct subordinate." Buffer finished, eyes widening as he realised the impossible situation his friend had been in. "She's his divisional officer, the one who recommends him for promotions, oh God Navvie." He shook his head and got up to find clean overalls.

Swain silently watched his friend move around the cabin – by the restlessness of Buffer's movements he could tell there was something on his mind, and he knew better than to push him to talk.

Pulling on a new pair of overalls, Buffer left them hanging from his waist while he put his socks back on and stuck his feet in his unlaced boots. He paced the room a few times, fiddling with the sleeves, before drawing the grey material up over his shoulders.

"Swain…" Buffer finally turned back to face the man sitting at the desk, leaving his clean overalls unsnapped. "Did we properly clear the lower deck?"

Swain was shocked at the level of self-doubt he heard in his friend's voice. "You mean on the pseudo fishing vessel? Course we did."

"You sure? I mean we found that guy hiding and then we took him back upstairs. How do we know the other guy wasn't hiding down there too?" Buffer looked more anguished than Swain had ever seen him; obviously he was blaming himself for what had happened.

Swain got up and put a hand on Buffer's shoulder. "Mate, we cleared the area according to protocol. Those guys wanted to cause trouble, and if it wasn't for Nav warning us things could have been a lot worse." Buffer gave him a Look that clearly asked 'how could it have been worse?'. "The guy got lucky hitting Nav – you know how hard it is to hit a target that far away with a 9-mil. We were a lot closer, and we don't wear Kevlar for ordinary FFV boardings."

Buffer had to concede the point, but the worry wasn't entirely erased from his face. Swain clapped him on the shoulder and left him alone in the cabin, knowing there was nothing further he could say to reassure his friend.

…………….


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

1620 hours

Bomber stood outside the door for a few moments before she knocked. The letters on the nameplates blurred, until all she could see were two letters; 'N' and 'O'.

Though the med-evac helicopter had taken off with its precious cargo almost an hour ago, there was still no word on the condition of the two sailors it had contained. And whilst she knew that Nav and Spider were now in professional hands, that was no guarantee that they were going to be alright. Anyone with even basic medical knowledge would be aware that the greatest enemy of wounded personnel was not blood loss but shock, and this was precisely what Bomber was worried about. With the limited medical supplies and training on the ship there was only so much they could do to combat it – much depended on how their patients' bodies held on.

Immediately after she knocked, almost before her knuckles lifted from the wood, Bomber heard a voice from inside say, "Come in."

Upon entering the room Bomber found, as expected, X working furiously. They keyboard of her laptop chattered away in the silence; unlike her roommate, the X never was one to listen to music while she worked.

"I brought you a brew." Bomber said by way of greeting, and the look of delight on X's face told her the interruption was welcome. "Also brought a snack to tide you over until dinner." With this she produced two blueberry muffins.

The smell of the freshly-baked goodies was enough to turn X's focus entirely away from the computer screen, and she practically snatched the muffin from Bomber's outstretched hand. The chef just smiled knowingly – she had noticed that X hadn't visited the galley during lunch, thus had guessed the blonde lieutenant would be ravenous by now.

Halfway through her muffin before Bomber had even taken a bite out of her own, X glanced up at Nav's rack, and her face immediately fell. She lowered the food to her lap and shook her head. "I thought we were friends."

The phrase was so quiet that Bomber thought she had misheard. "Excuse me?"

As if she had forgotten she wasn't alone in the room, X started at the question. She turned back to Bomber, "Oh, sorry. I was just commenting that I thought Nav and I were friends."

Bomber smiled, "You are. Or at least Nav thought you were."

"Then why didn't she tell me about the baby?"

Bomber moved further into the room, and pointed to the lower bunk. "You mind if I sit here?" When X indicated for her to go ahead, she took a seat and leaned her elbows on her knees. "I've been thinking about that, too. I reckon we all have."

X thought back to the angst in ET's eyes, the hurt on Buffer and Mike's faces when they had seen the proof. "I think you're right."

"But have you thought about it from her point of view? Regardless of anything between them, Nav and ET have only been dating about eight months. When she first found out it would have been more like three or four months; they haven't made any sort of commitment, they'll still trying to figure out how it's going to work being together and then she finds herself pregnant." Bomber could see in X's face that the words were resonating – obviously the blonde hadn't thought about this angle. "Nav knows the rules about pregnant sailors, but she's the navigator, she hardly ever leaves the ship, so she wants to stay on as long as possible." She paused, searching for the right words to end her monologue. "Let me put it this way, what would your reaction have been if she did tell you?"

X was taken aback at the frankness of Bomber's question – when had the able seaman become so comfortable around her? Ignoring the voice in her head that told her to ask about Bomber's insightful comments, X thought about her response to the question.

"I guess would have tried to convince her to tell ET, helped her with the symptoms…maybe covered for her at work…"

"And?" Bomber prompted, eyebrows raised knowingly.

"And…" X sighed, "I would have eventually told the CO. But this situation is exactly _why_ they have the rules about maternity leave!" She protested, "Nav's condition wouldn't be nearly as bad if we'd been able to transfuse her like we did Spider."

Bomber simply nodded, "That's true. But at the same time I can kinda understand her hiding it. I can't help thinking what I would have done in her position."

X waited to see if the brunette would continue, but Bomber was staring into space, cradling her mug. X watched her, wondering how the younger woman was able to be so calm when her boyfriend was in such danger. Of course, X hadn't known they were in a relationship until two hours ago, when Bomber had been unable to hide her reaction to RO's panicked call during the debriefing. Maybe it was that their particular brand of flirting wasn't easily recognised as such, or perhaps they were just better at hiding their feelings for one another, but X hadn't noticed anything different about the way the two juniors sailors had behaved in the past couple of months.

She wondered if anyone could see her own mixed emotions for Mike and Buffer; as much as she liked to think she was able to keep her feelings to herself, the sudden rush of emotions she felt whenever either of them were near her was sometimes overwhelming. Nav had picked up on the change in X's demeanour almost as soon as X herself did. And while she could rationalise that Nav knew her better than anyone else, she was terrified that the young lieutenant had gotten so close to her so well in less than three years.

Blinking hard to rid herself of the fear of being known, X asked the question she had been thinking about ever since Buffer had informed her that Spider and Bomber were dating. "How on earth do you stay composed while your boyfriend is fighting for his life?"

Though Bomber broke out of her trance the moment X spoke, she didn't reply to the question immediately, just transferring her gaze from the wall to X's face. The XO was just about to repeat the question when Bomber finally spoke.

"We did everything we could. We stopped most of the bleeding, bandaged the wounds, and got him into professional care as soon as possible. Worrying about him – and Nav – won't do anything to help them." Though her voice was typical Bomber – strong, direct and uncompromising – the distracted look in her eyes and the tapping fingers on her mug told a different story.

Both remained silent for a while, Bomber pensive and X uncomfortable. She wasn't sure how to respond – should she comment on the words or the actions?

But X was saved by Bomber's next words – her first sentence seemingly random, but as the chef continued to speak X recognised the attempt at normalcy. "Spider is the real Spider. You know how some people have one personality for the general public, but when you get to know them they're completely different? He's not like that. With him, what you see is what you get. He's funny, eager, naive, even charming, in his own dorky kind of way." Bomber smiled fondly, a soft grin that X had never seen on the able seaman's face.

Though she knew Bomber wasn't smiling at her, X found herself returning the grin. "I think Nav summed it up the best: Spider's just Spider."

Thinking about Spider, and the way he always hung around annoying her while she was trying to prepare meals for the crew, Bomber had a brainwave. She forehead with her palm and burst out laughing. "How could I have been so stupid?"

Startled by the sudden change in Bomber's mood, X looked at the chef curiously. "Come again?"

"Nav. The pregnancy." Bomber explained, shaking her head in disbelief. "How could I not have noticed the increase? God it must have been so hard for her to give it up…how the hell did she manage to survive without it?"

X was still completely confused. "What's all this about giving up?"

Looking up from the floor, Bomber took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "Nav's caffeine addiction. At least four cups a day, four clicks of coffee per cup. The pregnancy would have made her tired to begin with, but without her usual caffeine shots…"

X nodded, finally comprehending the garbled explanation. "She would have had to give it up, no wonder she's been sleeping during the day. Actually leaves the bridge when she's not on duty."

"Hindsight's amazing, huh?" Bomber added, "The symptoms you see when you know the cause."

"Symptoms…oh my God the chocolate."

The two women exchanged a look, both astounded at the missed signs of Nav's pregnancy – signs that were now glaringly obvious.

"No midnight choccie runs for at least four months." X stated, realisation flooding her face.

"No snapping at everyone one week per month for five." Bomber added.

"And the moodiness…"

"It hasn't been cyclical like usual." The two women finished together, and exchanged another look, surprised by how in tune they were with one another's cycles.

"X, bridge." The captain's voice broke the moment of bonding between the female sailors, and both stood.

They went upstairs together, and Bomber was about to step into the galley when X asked a question and caused her to turn back.

"What's on the menu for tonight?"

"Veal parmigiana and chicken schnitzel."

X returned Bomber's sad smile, "Nav and Spider's favourites. Just don't forget the chips."

The smiles turned into smirks at the joke, and Bomber nodded before ducking into the galley.

When X reached the bridge she found it almost empty, with only RO, Charge, Swain and the captain to greet her.

"What's up, boss?" She asked, grin disappearing instantly at the sight of the sombre faces.

"We have a distress call, two persons missing overboard."

X immediately understood – in Nav's absence she was the next best navigator, thus it was up to her to plot the search area. She moved to the navigational console, trying to put out of her mind the usual occupant of the seat. It was a struggle to do so – Nav's half-drunk cup of what X now knew to be decaf coffee sat next to the keyboard, and a notepad with her familiar rounded handwriting lay next to the pen she had stolen from X that morning. Shaking her head slightly, X focused on the map screen before her, and asked the captain for the details of the ship.

"How do you miss two people for an hour on a boat that size?" Swain wondered out loud, sitting at the helm waiting for X's direction.

RO answered in his usual matter-of-fact way, "The other two were below deck, didn't hear anything strange, only figured out their friends were gone when they came up to take over the watch."

Charge snorted, "Below deck for over an hour in the middle of the afternoon? Little afternoon nookie perhaps?"

The others on the bridge chuckled, glad for the distraction from the events of the past few hours.

X worked slowly but carefully, grinning to herself as she listened to the conversation around her. _Don't forget to take the currents into account_, a voice that sounded remarkably like Nav's reminded her, and X almost looked around to find the person who had spoken. But just before she turned she realised the voice was in her head, and thanked her inner-Nav for the reminder.

……………………


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

1700 hours

Though he had been assigned to operate the EOD during the search for the missing sailors, ET was unable to concentrate with the conspicuously empty chair next to him. After the third time the CO had caught him looking out the window instead of at the screen, ET was dismissed from the bridge.

He wandered below deck aimlessly, not wanting to go back to his cabin but neither did he feel like socialising with the others in the mess. Eventually he found himself in the engine room, where the noisiness drowned out the thoughts racing through his head. He leaned against the wall and slid down to a sitting position, resting his elbows on his knees and his head on his arms.

The shock of Nav's pregnancy was finally wearing off, and though he was still worried about her medical condition, the practicalities of the baby were starting to override his thoughts. How would they raise this baby together? He loved Nav, knew she loved him, but he wasn't anywhere near ready to be married. They didn't live together, hadn't even talked about it, and yet ET couldn't fathom trying to raise a baby while they lived apart. Not to mention the logistics of two Navy sailors taking care of a child when their careers depended on time at sea.

The steady thrum of the engines helped ET to clear his mind, until almost every thought and emotion was pushed to the back of his brain. And once he tamped down the worry, another feeling rose to the surface – anger. But unlike earlier with the punching bag, this anger wasn't directed at those who had caused Nav's injuries…rather he was angry at Nav herself.

He was annoyed she had put herself in danger by crying out when she saw the gunman, irritated that she hadn't told him about the baby, but most of all he was livid that she would continue to work on the ship and knowingly risk their child's life.

Twenty-two months ago Nav had comforted him after Susie terminated the pregnancy – she alone knew how much the news had hurt him. The last time a woman had carried his child she had deliberately gotten rid of it, but as far as ET was concerned, putting the baby in jeopardy as Nav had done was almost as bad. Even aside from the obvious danger of the gunshot wounds, keeping the secret as she had, continuing to perform her usual ship duties while the child inside of her sapped her energy – this was detrimental to Nav's health, and thus it wasn't good for the baby either.

He wasn't aware his hands had balled into fists until he heard the metallic clang as they slammed into the floor. A moment later the pain hit, and it was such a welcome relief from everything else he was feeling that he did it again.

"If you feel like beating something up, I've got a couple of bent casings that need straightening out." Charge's voice echoed loudly in the room, easily eclipsing the noise of the engines.

ET looked up at the engineer, his slate-coloured eyes swimming with emotions. Charge nodded in understanding and sat down beside him, looking across the room – while not as close to his heart as the engines of the Freemantle Hammersley, in his view these machines were just as alive as the person sitting next to him.

The two of them sat for a while, not touching, not looking at one another; ironically the white noise of the engines allowed them to think better than complete silence.

"I remember when Nav first joined the Hammersley." Charge said out of the blue.

…FLASHBACK…

The first person Nav saw, a dark-haired lanky guy who introduced himself as Robert Dixon – no rank or job title – was very cold towards her, merely replying "the bridge" when Nav enquired as to the CO's whereabouts. He disappeared before she could reply, leaving her to find her own way through the ship.

And while she'd had the forethought to study a map of the ship's layout before coming on board, she wasn't sure which door she had entered through, and thus became disoriented. She stumbled onto the senior sailors' mess, but for the life of her Nav couldn't remember whether to turn right or left to get to the bridge from there. _Some navigator_, she thought, trying in vain to picture the map in her head, _can't even find my way around a damn ship_.

"You lost?" Came a friendly voice from the door, and Nav exhaled in relief.

"Yeah, kinda." She replied, "You wouldn't be able to point me in the direction of the bridge, would you?"

The bear of a man in front of her smiled, and she could tell instantly that he was more of a teddy bear than a grizzly. "I'll do one better, I'll escort you there myself." He held out his hand politely, "Chief Petty Officer Andy Thorpe."

She took the hand and felt grease ingrained into the skin, a feeling that threw her back to childhood hugs with her father. Thus she knew that he was the chief engineer, the Charge, as they called it in the Navy. "Lieutenant Nikki Caetano."

The surprise was evident in the man's – _Charge,_ she reminded herself – eyes. "You're the new navigator. Wasn't expecting a ch-ahem, a woman."

She stifled a giggle at his correction, obviously he'd never served with a female officer before. "Kinda ironic for the navigator to get lost, no?" Self-depreciation was a skill Nav had learned at a young age - with four older brothers, she had quickly learned that it she didn't bring it up first, they'd make fun of it later.

He visibly relaxed, let out a guffaw. "No worries, I'm sure you'll be directing us around here before the week's out, ma'am."

Though slightly disappointed he had felt the need to tack on the 'ma'am', Nav smiled widely.

"Let me take your bag, ma'am." Charge reached for the sports bag at her feet, but she picked it up herself.

"No need for that, I'm perfectly-" Nav reminded herself that he hadn't meant it condescendingly and cut herself off. "But thank you for the offer." She exited the room quickly, moving right into the path of another sailor, and it was only Charge's presence that stopped the both of them ending up on the floor.

"Whoa there guys." He said, his strong arms momentarily pushing Nav up against the blonde sailor.

Once they regained their footing they stood staring at one another, for longer than was probably appropriate.

Oblivious to the sparks flying between the two sailors in front of him, Charge made the introductions. "Lieutenant Nikki Caetano, this is Leading Seaman Josh Holiday – ET."

…END FLASHBACK…

Despite all the negative feelings he was currently experiencing, ET couldn't help but smile at the memory. "We gave her such hell."

"But she proved herself. Perfectly handled everything we threw at her." Charge grinned, "Not to mention that she's the only one of us who's ever beaten Buff in a drinking contest." There was a note of fatherly pride in his voice, and this startled him; coming up through the ranks of the Navy he had been taught that officers were superiors, not friends, especially not female officers. But Nav had so seamlessly integrated herself into the boys club that he couldn't help befriending her, and after all this time he thought of her as a daughter.

ET chuckled, remembering how Buffer had refused to accept that he'd been beaten by a girl – which provided an endless supply of entertainment for the next couple of pub trips, as he tried to prove it was a fluke. Nav drank him – drank them all – under the table every time. But she had to be in the right mood – unlike the boys, she wouldn't be pressured into anything, not even when dared.

"Remember when Spider tried to take her on, and he almost ended up in the hospital? Geez that must have been more than two years ago now," Charge shook his head, "time flies by so fast."

Maybe it was the mention of Spider, or maybe it was the reminder of the huge upheaval in his life two years ago, but for whatever reason the smile fell from ET's face. "They're still alive! Stop talking about them like they're gone!" Despite the vehemence of his words he didn't shout, and if Charge hadn't been so close he probably wouldn't have even heard him.

Charge held his hands up, his expression instantly sober. "Mate, I didn't mean anything by it, was just trying to cheer you up."

ET sighed, "I know, I'm sorry. I just…I'm scared, Chargo. What if she doesn't make it? What if she leaves me all alone?" Though tears pricked at the back of his eyes once again, he managed to blink them away – he'd cried in front of the crew more than enough today.

The engineer threw an arm around his friend, "I won't promise you that she'll be OK, because I don't know that, but I do know that she will fight like hell to get through this. Nav-Nikki will do everything she possibly can to come back to you." He took a deep breath, knowing that the next part would be almost as hard for him to say as it would be for ET to hear. "And if she doesn't? You won't be alone. We'll all be here for you; me, Swain, Buff, the captain, RO, even Bomber and the X." He carefully omitted Spider's name, having seen what previous mention of the young seaman had done to ET.

Someone had finally said the words, acknowledged that there was a possibility one or both of their wounded sailors could die, and now ET couldn't bear the sight of the engine room. The memory of Nav reaching for him while her life was in danger during the hostage situation flashed before his eyes, but when he closed his eyes and tried to get rid of the image, it was replaced with one of Nav lying deathly still in the ward room, her pale, immobile face such a stark contrast to the warm, expressive person she was.

He fled the room wordlessly, trying to find a place he could go that wouldn't remind him of her. The galley was a possibility…but the second he set foot on the main deck he was assaulted with the smell of pan-fried veal, which in turn brought forth images of Nav teaching him how to cook her favourite dish.

Eventually he ended up in the junior sailors' quarters once again, but he couldn't bear the sight of his rack, the photos he knew were hidden in the shelves beside his mattress. So instead he sat on the floor next to the desk and buried his face in his knees, trying to block everything out.

……………………


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

Missing sailors found, and with X in charge of the ship as they started back to base, Mike sat in his cabin, contemplating. The injuries of Nav and Spider had hit him hard, not least because Bomber, ET and Buffer were all working below-par.

Unlike many other seamen who had worked under him, Spider had made a deep impression on Mike, not least due to the young man's uncanny ability to get himself into trouble. Every time he saw the look of contrition that was quickly becoming a familiar expression on Spider's face, Mike couldn't help but want to protect him. And it had been a long time since he'd seen a seaman with so much potential – it seemed there was no middle ground with Spider, he was either messing up or standing out.

In contrast to Spider, Nav almost never slipped up. Thus Mike was extremely concerned as to the multitude of factors that had caused her to make such a huge mistake. Even putting aside her dabbling in the grey area that was the Navy fraternisation rule, the fact that she had deliberately disobeyed the Navy rules for maternity leave would have some serious consequences.

Mike thought of Nav as the sister he'd never had, but she wasn't the annoying little sister, more of a friend-type sister. They worked so well together, could almost read one another's minds, and if not for his need to speak out loud occasionally, Mike knew he wouldn't have to direct her to do anything. Not only was she excellent at her job, she always found the right balance between friendliness and insubordination, thus got away with more cheeky comments than anyone else. He knew it had annoyed Nav when X first came aboard and the navigator was no longer the only woman on the ship, but true to form she didn't let anything affect her work, and her unique charms soon won the blonde lieutenant over. Mike was amazed at her ability to bond with every person on board; despite the wide variety of personalities aboard the ship, she worked well with literally everyone, and most of the boys would protect her as a little sister.

Which brought him to his problems – those sailors who didn't think of Nav as a little sister. Mike had known Buffer and Nav were close, but his reaction to her pregnancy told the captain there were more than brotherly feelings involved. Buffer and ET seemed to have made up after their spat during the briefing, but Mike would have to keep an eye on them as they got closer to seeing their wounded sailors once again.

Before his brain could delve too far into the bureaucratic nightmare that was Nav's situation with ET, the leading seaman knocked on the door.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yeah, come on in, ET." He waited while the younger man entered the room and stood next to the desk at which Mike was sitting. "I take it you know why I wanted to speak with you?"

"I would guess it's to do with my relationship with Nav, sir." The tension was evident in ET's stance, and determination showed in the set of his jaw.

Seeing this, Mike worded his response to set ET at ease. "Did you know the Navy policy on fraternisation is only applicable while actually on the ship? What happens on shore is your own business." ET's face and body visibly relaxed, but Mike wasn't finished. "The problem occurs when one sailor is in a position of authority over the other."

Though ET's posture had become more rigid at the word 'problem', he didn't actually understand what Mike was saying. "Sir?"

Seeing the confusion in ET's face, Mike changed went with a more direct approach. "Nav's your divisional officer, your direct superior. She's the one who does your performance reviews, she recommends you for promotions, she's basically your supervisor." ET opened his mouth to protest, but Mike held up a hand. "And while I know the two of you are too professional to let anything interfere with your work, the promotional board doesn't. Now she's pregnant with your child." Mike shook his head dejectedly. "I have to say, you two have gotten yourselves into a right mess."

ET's head with spinning with all the implications. "So that's why she kept it a secret, she knew what hell would erupt."

"I can't see how delaying things worked out better, but you're probably right."

Mike looked away, eyes dancing around the room as he tried to decide the best thing to say next. His ocean-blue eyes flittered over the laptop on his desk, his iPod and speakers on the shelf above, the half-open drawer from which he had just extracted Nav and ET's personnel records, the folders themselves lying beside his hand, and finally stopped on his wardrobe. The door was open a couple of inches, and in the dark recess he could just make out his formal Navy hat.

Sighing heavily, he turned his attention back to ET, who was now looking even more nervous, if that was possible. In that instant he felt the authority drain from his body, replaced with anger at how two of his most dependable sailors had become so irresponsible. "ET, how did this happen? Considering the fact that she didn't tell you about the baby, I'm presuming this wasn't planned. And why didn't you come to me? You know I would have tried to help."

"Of course it wasn't planned, we've only been dating for eight months. I guess we're just in that lucky 1." ET was incredibly uncomfortable discussing his sex life with Mike – it was worse than talking to his father; and ET's father delighted in embarrassing his son with such conversation.

Thankfully Mike didn't need any further explanation, instead he turned his attention to the other issue. "I know the two of you would never let anything happen on this ship, so having a relationship isn't strictly against regulations, but the fact that she's your divisional officer…why didn't you two discuss this with me? We could have found some way around it. X or Charge could have done your evaluations…it didn't have to get to this point."

ET wrung his hands together, "Yeah…well at first we weren't sure where it would lead, and we didn't want to mess things up at work, and then Nikki wanted to wait…" He leaned against the wall, wrapping his arms around his torso. "I guess it's a moot point now."

Mike nodded glumly, trying to figure out how to bring up the next part – he knew it was inevitable that ET would become defensive and protective. "ET, there are going to be penalties for breaking the rules. Now, as I said before, the fraternisation rules are a pretty grey area, but maternity leave isn't. Nav not only kept her pregnancy a secret, but she also stayed on the ship well past the mandated cessation point. There are going to be serious consequences for her, and most definitely a note in her file…which may come back to haunt her."

As expected, the blonde's face fell as soon as the CO started speaking. "What? No, sir, isn't there something you can do…it wasn't anything sinister, she's the navigator, she hardly ever-"

"-leaves the ship, yes I know this ET. But look what happened today, _while_ she was on board." Guilt started to seep into Mike's voice, guilt that he had been trying his very best to starve off all afternoon, and he looked away from ET. "I shouldn't have let her go outside, I should have made you guys wear your vests when you were boarding…I should have noticed that something was up with her, long before this ever happened." Mike took a deep breath and gathered himself before he could get too far into the self-loathing. He stared at a blank sheet of paper in front of him, deliberately keeping his eyes away from the leading seaman behind him. He didn't want ET to see the vulnerability in his eyes, wanted to maintain the façade of calm, collected captain.

There was silence in the room. It felt like an eternity, but ET only saw the clock tick over a single minute before Mike spoke again.

"While I don't think we need to involve the higher ups with the details of your relationship, there will be some punishment for you keeping it a secret. Firstly I'm going to have to deny the recommendation for your promotion." Though ET's face fell, Mike could tell he had been expecting this blow. "Secondly, you're going to be on galley duty with Bomber for two months, and you're going to do a thorough check of all the boarding gear equipment during our next voyage."

Mike looked up from the paper he had been detailing the punishments on, and found ET standing stoically. When grey-blue met ocean, the younger man gave a firm nod, and Mike felt a ribbon of pride run through him – this young man was a fine sailor and an asset to the Navy. Unlike many others, he was facing his mistake head on, and was prepared to weather the punishment stoically.

Softening his expression, Mike spoke more casually, "ET, I will speak to Nav about her own punishment, and I can pretty much guarantee there will be a formal investigation about the pregnancy, but I will promise you something. I will go to bat for her, I'll do everything in my power to ensure she keeps her job and her rank." Now he stared at ET, eyes boring into the younger man in an attempt to convey his sincerity.

ET nodded formally, "Thank you, sir." A grin broke through before he finished the words. "You think she's going to be OK. Not once in this entire conversation have you expressed any doubt. It's…refreshing."

Mike returned the smile, but before he could respond X's voice came over the internal radio.

"Sir, Comcen on the line for you. News from the hospital."

……………………


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

2115 hours

Expelled from the communications room while the captain spoke to Commander Marshall, ET immediately moved up to the bridge so as to ensure he wouldn't miss out on the briefing that was sure to follow.

When he got there he found the right side of the room completely empty; the vacant chairs of the navigation and EOD consoles lending further emphasis to the conversation currently occurring below deck. He turned to the left, and saw a multitude of heads turning away; Charge and Buffer in the corner near the engineering console, Swain at the helm, X in the captain's chair, and RO at his station. The only person who returned his gaze was Bomber, seated on the chart table.

Her rich brown eyes were filled with fear, unease, hope and the many other emotions ET himself was feeling. From the soft smile that crossed her face when she looked at him, ET figured his own eyes must have been reflecting those same feelings back to Bomber.

He walked slowly through the bridge without saying a word, legs moving sluggishly, as if he was walking through a swamp. He felt his fellow sailors – his friends – following his movements, could feel their eyes shift to his back as he passed each person. Finally he reached the foremost point of the bridge and stared out the window, watching the night waves crash over the bow of the Hammersley.

There was a throng of emotions flowing through him, each separate feeling warring for prime position. He was anxious about Nav and Spider and the baby, hopeful that they were all going to be OK, worried that they wouldn't be, frustrated that he couldn't do anything to help, and scared that he would never be able to show Nav just how much he loved her. The previous few hours had been a rollercoaster of feelings like he'd never felt before, but at this moment, waiting for the news that could make his day or break his heart, he felt like he was about to explode.

The door creaked open earlier than ET expected, and though it hadn't exactly been noisy on the bridge, there was complete silence the instant they heard footsteps on the stairs.

ET and Bomber were the only ones who moved more than their heads; Bomber hopped off the table and moved to the middle of the room, resting a hand on the chair to the EOD console, while ET did the same thing with Nav's chair. X noticed the synchronised movements and smiled, but it was merely a contortion of facial muscles with no emotion behind it.

Mike's face was solemn, and he seemed to be deep in thought. Bomber covered her mouth and stifled a gasp, her fear combined with his expression overriding her composure.

When he reached the top of the stairs Mike paused for a moment, and everyone in the room could see he was trying to figure out the right words.

Buffer was the first to crack, "C'mon boss, just tell us."

"They're both alive." Though everyone let out the collective breath they had been holding since the door opened, Mike's tone left them hanging for more information. "Nav's out of surgery, she's stable, but in a critical condition. And the baby's fine." He added, pre-empting ET's question. "She hasn't woken up yet, but it's only been about an hour. Spider is still in surgery, also critical. They won't tell us any more until he comes out."

Mike took a breath, and there was another moment of silence while everyone digested the information they had just received. Then the room was filled with noise as they all started talking at once.

X was beside Mike before anyone else had even moved. "Did they give you any details as to Nav's condition?"

"Why'd they let her out of surgery if she's still critical?" Buffer asked, pushing Charge out of his way as he moved towards Mike.

"Over three hours in surgery, was the internal damage serious?" Ever-wary of his duties, Swain stayed in his seat at the helm, but turned to face the rest of the room.

"Why hasn't she woken up?" ET exclaimed, his proximity and volume to her ear startling Bomber, who was the only one not speaking.

The chef was staring in the direction of Mike, however she didn't actually see him. The image before her eyes was that of her boyfriend, lying unconscious in a sterile room, his face pale from the loss of blood that had reddened the bandages covering his abdomen.

_Still in surgery…critical…comes out…_ Mike's words repeated over and over in her head, and her hand unconsciously tightened on the chair. All afternoon she had been telling herself that she'd done everything she possibly could to help Spider, and so far it had allowed her to remain composed. But now, stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean while he fought for his life over a hundred kilometres away, the confirmation that his injuries were very serious caused her composure to waver.

Bomber felt a tingle that indicated her legs were about to buckle, and quickly moved to sit in the chair she had been leaning on. As she settled sideways into the cushion she looked back at the centre of the room, where all eyes were on the captain. No, wait, there was a pair of eyes staring back at her, concern filling the chocolate orbs.

She nodded at him, took a deep, calming breath, and then refocused on the captain.

"They can't do anything more for Nav in surgery, now it's up to her body to heal." He answered Buffer first – though he would never admit it, the look on the bosun's face scared him. "I've told you everything I know about both Nav and Spider's conditions – the doctors won't release any more information over the phone. And as for the waking thing, I don't know…" He looked at Swain helplessly, eyes pleading for the medic to reassure ET.

"I'm no expert, but anaesthesiology is not an exact science – the medicine wears off at different rates for each patient." Every eye in the room turned towards the helm the instant Swain began speaking. "You said she'd only been out of surgery for about an hour, right?" Though the question was directed at Mike, ET was the one who answered.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Then her unconsciousness doesn't mean anything yet. As far as I'm aware it takes about 40 to 90 minutes for a patient to wake up after general anaesthesia. You can stop fidgeting, she's still well within the normal range." Despite the sombre mood on the bridge, Swain had to smile at ET's reaction to his words – the blonde stopped wringing his hands, stared at them for a second as if they were someone else's limbs, then stuffed them into his pockets.

"And Spider?" Charge finally spoke up, joining the group in the middle of the room.

"I'm not a doctor, guys." Swain said, shaking his head. But the expectant faces remained focused on him, so he exhaled loudly and scratched his head. "Internal bleeding is notorious for causing long surgeries, because there's no way to know exactly what's been damaged until they actually open him up."

No one noticed how Bomber's body stiffened at Swain's words, except for one sailor whose position allowed him to see both her and Swain. He wanted desperately to comfort her, but at the same time he knew she wouldn't appreciate him bringing attention to her while she was distressed.

"There's a lot of soft tissue in the abdomen, not much to slow down a bullet. It did go through his arm first, and it didn't exit, so all we can do is hope that the arm bones caused it to slow down enough to cause minimal damage." Though he hated to be so blunt, especially with Bomber right there, Swain knew that sugar-coating the seriousness would be worse.

_All we can do…critical…minimal damage…_ Swain's words joined Mike's in the swirling vortex of emotions that was Bomber's brain, and the fact that the seriousness of his injuries had finally been spoken aloud caused Bomber's fragile control to finally snap. Her eyes filled with tears, but before any of them could fall she fled the room.

Every head turned towards the sound of footsteps on the stairs, but the only person who reacted was RO. He was out of his seat and following her off the bridge before the others had even realised what had happened.

……………………

All afternoon Bomber had been holding in her emotions. She had tried to disguise her feelings by focusing on her work and her cooking, and felt, for the most part, that she had done an admirable job. Being one of the newest members of the Hammersley crew, and a woman to boot, Bomber feared that allowing the others to see what she was really feeling would taint their view of her. Her 'tough girl' persona, the basis by which she had gained the nickname 'Bomber', had been carefully cultivated throughout her time in the Navy, and she intended to keep it that way.

But then Spider had asked her out and, despite her wariness about dating colleagues, she had accepted. She had invested feelings beyond friendship, and now he might never know the extent of them.

It wasn't the first time today that her eyes had filled with tears, however this time should couldn't stop them trickling down her cheeks. She leaned on the railing surrounding the foredeck, gazing out over the waves. Though the weather was calm, the very movement of the ship caused white peaks to form in the otherwise flat sea.

Bomber hadn't always loved the sea; as a child growing up in rural Queensland the only time she saw the ocean was her family's annual trip to her grandparents' place in Brisbane. However when she decided to join the armed services, there was no other option in her mind and thus she became intimately familiar with the perils and pitfalls of salt water. Now watching over the water was a soothing pastime which allowed her to think about anything and everything on her mind.

"Bomber, you out here?" RO asked from the doorway, and for a moment she entertained the idea of keeping quiet, wondering whether he would venture out to check for himself.

But the consequences of the tears running down her face made themselves known at that very moment – she sniffed loudly.

Instantly Bomber heard footsteps on the deck moving towards her, and as she wiped her now-runny nose she cursed her body's betrayal. Though admittedly she had shared her ocean view with Spider, for the most part she preferred to be alone, for his constant chatter inevitably spoiled the calmness she wanted.

RO didn't chatter. He came to stand beside her, and looked out the same way she was, but stayed silent. As always, he was overly respectful, standing a foot away and making no move to touch her.

However when she sniffed again, and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, he could no longer hold in the instinct to comfort. Most guys would have attempted to hold her, but RO knew Bomber wouldn't accept that. So instead he waited until her hand resumed its place on the railing, and covered it with his own.

When she turned and gave him a grateful look, the wetness in her brown eyes caused his heart to clench. Bomber was the closest friend he'd ever had, and he hated seeing her upset the way she was.

RO wasn't one to spout insincere platitudes, and he hated speaking for the sake of speaking. So he didn't tell her everything would be alright, but rather returned her look with a sympathetic one, then looked back out over the waves.

………………………


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

0420 hours

"Thirty-one…thirty-two…thirty-three…" Mike counted his sit ups out loud, purely to break the oppressive silence that had settled over his cabin.

He had tried putting on his usual exercise playlist, but the songs that usually got him fired up were only depressing him today. The pumping beats sounded like a beating heart, and constantly reminded him of what the exercise was designed to make him forget.

"Thirty-seven…thirty-eight…thirty-nine…"

Try as he might, he couldn't stop the images that flashed before his eyes every time he reached the sitting position and saw the photo. It had been taken the day they _thought_ the Samaru/Walsman issue was resolved - when they were limboing on the beach. Their smiles were all so wide and carefree, and for some reason that he couldn't fathom, Nav and Spider were next to one another, arms around necks, both having been relegated to sitting in front of everyone else.

Her left shoulder was unblemished in the photograph, as was his right arm…and Mike couldn't help but think about the fact that they would never be so pristine again.

"Forty-five…forty-six…forty-seven…"

It was his fault.

He wasn't egotistical enough to take the fault away from the person who had actually pulled the trigger, but the rest was all on him. After their experiences in Samaru he should have mandated Kevlar on all boardings. He had thought about it, spoken to X about it, even drafted a new policy…but had never actually implemented it.

He would now.

"Fifty-two…fifty-three…fifty-four…"

And Nav…he had always prided himself on knowing his crew, caring for them as his family. Yet here was his navigator, the sister he'd never had, his _friend_, who had been hiding a huge secret. He had Googled symptoms of pregnancy, and now had even more respect for Nav. She not only put up with the delights of pregnancy alone, but also pulled her weight as normal, acting like there was nothing different.

He cursed himself for not seeing it – _anything_ – different about her these past few months. Was he really that caught up in his job and his own life that he could look straight through her tired face all those months? For now he looked back, there had been indications, no matter how hard she tried to hide them. He should have noticed her lack of energy, her daytime disappearances, her monotone speech.

"Fifty-nine…sixty…sixty-one…"

He couldn't remember the last thing he'd said to Spider, what Spider had said to him. He couldn't remember his conversation with Nav, though he guessed it was their usual casual conversation while the RHIB was moving towards the FFV.

He couldn't remember the sound of the gunshots, or what he'd said in the moments following them. He did recall the sight of Nav jolting from the first hit, her body spinning backwards, her leg jerking out from under her when it was hit, causing her to hit the deck hard.

He did remember the coolness of Nav's skin as he lightly slapped her cheek, trying to rouse her. He remembered the wet crimson of blood staining his fingers, spreading to cover the fabric of her overalls even as his hand pressed down over the wound.

Then a hand had touched his shoulder, and everything had sound again. He followed Bomber's instructions, spoke his own orders, and watched as his sailors transported her downstairs.

It wasn't until he was alone on the bridge that he'd let his composure drop, slumping into his chair and staring blindly at the floor.

Completing 100 sit ups, Mike flipped over and did 100 push ups before finally getting to his feet. The push ups were easier than the sit ups, because all he could see was the floor, and thus he was able to block out all his thoughts without something bringing the memories of this afternoon rushing back.

He ripped open his overalls and peeled them off his shoulders, relishing the cool air against his sweaty skin. He had just started wiping away the moisture with a towel, when there was a knock at the door.

Glancing at his watch, he figured it must be Nav coming to tell him they were an hour away from port. It was a little routine they had; no matter the time, or who else was on watch with her, she would always find him and tell him in person.

"Come in," He said nonchalantly, realising too late that it wouldn't be Nav finding him today.

"Sir, you wa-" X opened the door and started speaking, only for her entire brain to come to a screeching halt.

The boss was standing in front of her, half-naked and sweaty…her chest constricted, making breathing difficult.

She managed to drag her eyes back up to his face, however the movement of his hands blotting his chest caused her vision to slide back downwards. His chest was now mostly dry, but she couldn't help following a single drop that he'd missed. Her hazel eyes were locked onto his chest, watching the bead of sweat trace his well-defined abs.

It disappeared into the overalls tied around his waist and she couldn't help but imagine what it would trace next. Fighting a smile, X raised her gaze back up to his face - and found him smirking at her.

Opening her mouth to comment, X found her gaze locking onto his, words escaping her for the second time in as many minutes. The intensity of Mike's grey-blue stare caused a fluttering of her heart, and she couldn't break the connection if her life depended on it.

When he looked at her like that, it was a struggle to remember her own name, let alone whatever it was she'd come in here to tell him. She felt like she was drowning in the crystal clear orbs, however it was a pool she never wanted to climb out of. He exhaled softly, sending a puff of warm air across her face, and it took all of her self control not to close the distance between their lips.

Neither of them knew how long they stood there, either side of the cabin door, just staring into one another's eyes.

Buffer knew. He'd been standing at the bottom of the stairs for three whole minutes, _and_ he'd only left the bridge because the X hadn't returned when expected. He wondered how he kept getting himself into these situations. Not only being attracted to a woman serving on the same ship as him, but one who was already in love with someone else. It was as if the universe was taunting him, allowing him to get caught up in fantasies, even offering a glimmer of reciprocation, but essentially locking him out.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the self-depreciative thoughts, he moved towards the pair and placed a hand on X's shoulder, and felt her tense under his touch. Just because he was on the wrong side of the challenge, didn't mean he wouldn't give it his all. "Sir?"

Both of them blinked at the sound of Buffer's voice, the connection instantly severed. He admired their ability to be completely lost in one another one moment and all business the next.

Despite having been released from the grip of Mike's gaze, X was still frozen in place. Buffer's hand on her shoulder was burning through her overalls, sending an altogether different flutter through her body.

"We're about an hour from port, Sir." Buffer's tone was crisp, and X could tell he had seen more than he was letting on, though Mike seemed oblivious.

Mike stared at him for a moment, before comprehension dawned on his face. "Ah, yes…the X was just…telling me that." He hastily drew his overalls back up over his shoulders and threw the towel behind him blindly.

Schooling his features to hide the smile threatening to break free, Buffer nodded. "Of course." He put slight pressure on X's shoulder, causing her to move backwards and allow Mike to exit his cabin. He followed the captain up to the bridge, but not before sending X a meaningful glance.

X shivered at the heat that passed between them in the two-second eye lock. It felt like his gaze had pierced her very skin, and made her shoulder tingle once again, as if his hand was still there.

Once they were out of eyesight she sighed and shook her head, now completely confused. One feeling was old, the other new, and yet they both had the power to render her speechless and immobile. She felt like she was being torn in two…no three – one part of her desperately wanted to rekindle things with Mike, a second wondered what it would be like to give in to the chemistry crackling between her and Buffer, and yet the third part reminded her that neither of those things could happen if she wanted her career to remain on track. On top of all this there was an overwhelming feeling of guilt that she was pondering her tangled romantic life while her best friend was lying in a hospital bed fighting for her life.

Realising that her thoughts over the previous few minutes had severely hindered her ability to breathe, she inhaled deeply to steady herself. A few more deep breaths and she was able to push Mike and Buffer to the back of her mind and return to the bridge.

………………………

Spider felt as though he was swimming through molasses. He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were way too heavy. They were on a boarding…an illegal fishing vessel…and…a gun?

Attempting to open his eyes again, he found that the heaviness had gone, but having his eyes open didn't make any difference, because all he saw was darkness. He lifted his hand to rub them, but was unable to touch finger to eye. When he pulled his hand back he could see a faint outline of the fingers, and realised that the darkness was slowly seeping away.

He was suddenly aware of a dull ache, but he had no clue where it was coming from – it seemed to be all over. He felt pressure on his back, and dimly understood that he was in a bed.

The shadows receded, but everything was still fuzzy, like he was looking at it through glasses that were the wrong prescription. _Wait…I don't wear glasses…_the thought was fleeting, his mind unable to focus on any one thing for more than a second or two.

There was a weird beeping noise…and it was getting faster…and louder. It scared him, but at the same time the repetitive sound was reassuring in a way he couldn't quite fathom.

He could eventually make out a door, a chair, his feet covered in a thin blanket…was it blue or green? He wiggled his toes, saw the feet-lump move, but couldn't feel them. He reached out to touch them and the dull ache sharpened, to the point that he gasped.

The exhalation was loud in the otherwise silent room – that strange beeping the only other sound he could hear.

His eyes lowered and took in a cast on one arm, an indistinct line – a tube? – going into the other, and rails on both sides of the bed. Had he fallen out of the bunk bed again? A memory of a ten-year-old Billy with a similar cast flew through his brain, and he was barely able to make out the image before it disappeared.

The more the indistinct shapes became objects, the more afraid he became, and the faster the beeps sounded. His breaths came faster, but his chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself, and he couldn't get enough air into his lungs.

……………………

0545 hours

The four sailors rushed into the ward; even X was unable to contain herself when they were so close to learning the full story. ET abruptly skidded to a stop at the nurses' station, and would have done a faceplant on the scuffed linoleum if not for Buffer's hand on the back of his shirt.

Apparently the nurses at Barry General Hospital were on the ball this morning, for a doctor entered the corridor just as Bomber and X began questioning the woman sitting at the desk.

"I presume you are all here for the two Navy sailors admitted yesterday afternoon?" The doctor stated, amusement obvious in her voice.

Buffer and ET shared a look, and turned together, Buffer discreetly removing his hand from ET's back as they did so. Both men stared unblinking at the woman before them - the honey tones of her voice hadn't done justice to the rest of her.

Bomber rolled her eyes and smacked them both over the back of the head, then moved in front of them to address the doctor. "Are they OK?"

She smiled gently, "Yes, both Seaman Webb and Lieutenant Caetano are alive." She thought about inviting them to sit down, but the desperate looks on their faces told her they would take it as bad news. "I'm Doctor Riley Patterson. Now I'm not going to lie to you, their conditions are serious, but we're pretty sure the worst is behind them."

X stepped in front of the boys - both still mute, but no longer staring quite so openly - and asked her own question, "And the baby? Nikki's baby is fine too?"

At the mention of the baby ET and Buffer remembered they weren't at the pub scoping out an attractive woman, and their focus shifted from Riley's body to her words.

"Yes, the baby is fine." She looked between the two men, a question in her eyes that she chose not to voice.

ET answered it anyway, "I'm the father." His jaw was set, and his grey-blue eyes challenged her to make a comment.

But Riley hadn't survived medical school without the facing the associated challenges, and met his glare with one of her own, "The one who didn't notice his girlfriend was pregnant until she got shot?"

All four of them instantly sagged, and Riley knew she had hit a sore spot. She cursed her cynicism, and took a moment to come up with a suitable response; taking in the posture of those before her. The blonde man was staring at her – no _through_ her, and she could tell he wasn't seeing anything but his…girlfriend? wife? She looked at his hands, but they were fisted in his pockets. The other man had such a look of grief on his face, that Riley would have picked him to be the father if she hadn't been told otherwise. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, seemingly oblivious to the blonde woman resting against him. She turned her attention to the – counting the stripes on the woman's shoulder – lieutenant and saw in her face that exhaustion and guilt were fighting for dominance. Twisting to face the final member of the group, Riley was struck by how different this woman was to the other three; yes she was worried and guilty about Lieutenant Caetano, but her face was impassive – it was only her eyes that betrayed her.

Riley had always prided herself on her ability to read people – it was what made her so good with the relatives of patients, that she was able to determine the best way to dispense bad news with just a glance at the way they were waiting. However she couldn't quite put her finger on what this young woman was waiting for. The redhead made a movement with her hands that drew Riley's eyes down, and she saw the woman was playing with her fingers; entwining them, touching the fingertips of each hand together, rubbing a thumb over the back of her hand. Then all of a sudden it hit her like a sledgehammer – she was anxious for news on the _other_ Navy sailor, the male.

_Holy shit_, Riley thought, _two couples serving on the same ship. And if the body language those other two are showing says anything, it might not be the last couple…have these guys never heard of the Navy Fraternisation Rule?_

For all those in the corridor, the silence seemed to stretch for hours, when in reality it was less than a minute. Riley was just opening her mouth to continue explaining when a strangled scream sounded from the room just across from the nurse's station.

Every head turned towards the closed door, and X had barely registered that the number on the surface was '4' before it was flung open. Bomber barrelled through the opening with a force that suggested she would have gone through the _door_ if Riley hadn't opened it quickly enough.

The fluorescent light was harsher in the small room, and it served to emancipate Spider's already slight frame as he twisted around on the bed. Riley checked his pupils and the heart monitor, then moved away from the bed to allow his friends closer.

They all stood within his line of sight, however Bomber was the only one who reached out to touch him, brushing his hair out of his face with an intimacy the others had never seen from her before. When X looked at her face she saw a softness in the younger woman's eyes; affection that she wouldn't normally have been so open about. And when she focused on Spider she saw a similar expression on the injured sailor's face – it was obvious the two cared for one another a great deal.

He squinted as he tried to focus on the other faces around his bed, "Can yo-" The lights dimmed before his request was completed, and Bomber turned to smile appreciatively at Riley standing by the door.

"Hey mate," Buffer spoke first, standing upright next to the bed. He shuffled his feet, unsure whether to get closer and touch his friend or stay where he was.

"Hi guys." Spider's voice was throaty, taking on an almost seductive quality. He shifted again, and couldn't help but cry out again, despite every attempt to stifle it. "What the hell?" This time he was gasping, the pain stealing his breath.

Riley took her cue, and moved to the middle of the room next to the heart monitor – still beeping its morbid pulse. "Seaman Webb, I'm Dr Patterson. Do you remember what happened?"

Confusion flashed across his features as he struggled to identify the new face. "I…we were on a ship…hidden man…a gun…I was shot?"

"That's right. The bullet passed through your wrist and into your abdomen. Lucky for you the path through your arm meant the velocity of the bullet was significantly slowed, and so the internal damage was minimal." She was now speaking as much to his visitors as to the patient himself, although both amber-coloured eyes remained focused on Seaman Webb. "It nicked the right kidney and spleen, however the surgeons were able to repair the damage."

"My arm?" He interrupted when she took a breath, and she saw the fear in his eyes.

"The bullet shattered your wrist. All of your carpals were broken, and your wrist basically had to be pinned back together. There is nerve damage to the radial, median and ulnar nerves. Some of that damage will be permanent."

………………………


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

January 13, 2009

0610 hours

As Mike walked towards Marshall's office, he could see that the Commander was pacing irritably. He didn't hurry, just continued at his normal pace, even as the whispers around him grew louder and louder. Everyone knew that something had happened, sailors had been hurt, but no-one understood why that would cause Marshall to be so agitated – injuries were a job hazard.

Marshall managed to hold in his temper in check until Mike had closed the office door behind him, but the second the men were face to face, he let go. "What the Hell happened, Mike?! It was supposed to be just an illegal fishing vessel, and yet now we have two seriously injured sailors! And one of those sailors was six months pregnant! What the Hell is going on aboard your ship, Lieutenant Commander?"

Mike tensed at the use of his rank. It was one of the benefits of bring a member of such a small defence force that there was a high possibility your boss would also be someone you had previously served with, or under. He knew that having previously served on a ship under Marshall gave him leeway he probably shouldn't have received…but when the Commander didn't even add his surname to his rank, Mike knew he was far beyond niceties.

He waited a moment, to ensure Marshall had finished speaking, before opening his mouth to explain the situation. Carefully omitting any mention of the relationships that had come to light with the events of the previous day, Mike recounted the scene, doing his best to keep his voice neutral throughout. However, when it came to the discovery of Nav's hidden pregnancy, he couldn't prevent the guilt that filtered through and, from Marshall's slight facial twitch, he knew the older man had also registered the change in emotion.

All the anger drained out of the older man as he watched Mike struggle to remain impassive. "You feel guilty." Marshall stated when Mike finally sank into a chair, the exhaustion of the previous day showing clearly on his face.

He paused, expecting Mike to respond in the negative; despite the fact everyone knew Mike Flynn loved his crew as his family, he would vehemently deny it should the words be said aloud. But the shootings had clearly affected the man more than even his own brush with death, for he remained slumped in the chair, staring sightlessly over Marshall's shoulder.

Sighing, Marshall lowered himself into his own chair, "Look Mike, I know how much you care about your crew, but you can't be expected to know everything." Using his first name snapped Mike out of his daze; his eyes focused on Marshall, and he seemed to be taking in the older man's words. "People, especially women, are secretive by nature, and when they feel the need to hide something they will do it to the best of their ability."

Mike nodded seriously and sat up a little straighter in his chair. Despite Marshall's kind words, he knew there would be consequences and he steeled himself for the onslaught of Navy-speak that was sure to follow. However, the Commander surprised Mike when he smiled, albeit grimly.

"The Hammersley hasn't had a thorough engine service in more than six months, has it?"

Slightly taken aback by the seemingly random question, Mike responded instinctively, "That's right sir."

"Well I think we'd better make sure those engines are working correctly. Your crew will be granted two days shore leave while the service is completed." Marshall lifted his head from the service paperwork he'd started, and fixed Mike with a stern look. "Don't think this is the end of it, Mike. Lieutenant Caetano will have to face the consequences of her decision and, from the way you presented your report, I can tell there's something you haven't told me. If it has any bearing on the injuries-"

"It doesn't sir." Mike wouldn't have interrupted any other superior officer, and normally he wouldn't have done it to Marshall either, but he was buoyed by the decision to grant shore leave to the entire crew. Now he wouldn't have to explain why he thought Bomber and ET deserved time off.

Marshall regarded him suspiciously, but accepted it, waving him out. "OK, go and tell your crew the good news."

…………………………

0700 hours

Bomber reckoned it was some kind of record but, rather than amuse her, the fact that Spider hadn't spoken a word in over an hour caused her heart to twist.

As soon as the word 'permanent' had crossed the doctor's lips, Spider's face had fallen and the light in his eyes had gone out, extinguished as quickly as if someone had blown out a match. They watched on in sympathy as he tried to turn away from them, but the pain shooting through his arm with the slightest movement caused him to cry out once again. Buffer turned to ask about more pain medication, but the doctor, Riley, was already shaking her head – he'd been given as much as they could safely administer. The others turned away at that point, not wanting to see him struggling to stifle the noise, but Bomber couldn't tear her eyes away from him. Her eyes filled with tears as his did; the effort of keeping his pain silent too much to bear stoically.

Finally giving up on moving his whole body, Spider simply turned his head away from Bomber and stared at the wall, though he didn't actually see it. What the Hell was he going to do if he wasn't able to go back to the Navy? He had rested his entire future, all his hopes and dreams, on moving up the ranks in the job he loved. And now his whole life had been thrown into disarray, all because of a simple mistake.

After a few minutes of silence, the doctor and the rest of the crew had decided to leave Bomber and Spider alone, moving to the door as quietly as possible. Buffer was the last to exit the room, and he turned back just in time to see Spider lift his good hand to cover Bomber's, lying on the sheet next to his hip. Their fingers entwined and, even though Spider still refused to look at her, Buffer could have sworn he saw a ghost of a smile cross Bomber's face.

Now, an hour later, Bomber's back was starting to hurt from sitting in the same position for so long, and her bladder was screaming at her. She attempted to extricate herself from Spider's grasp, but he clutched her fingers tighter the instant she moved. Using two hands, she pried his fingers off one by one, and moved around to the other side of the bed, placing a palm on his cheek to stop him from turning away once again. Brown eyes met hazel, and she spoke gently, "Spi, I gotta pee. I'll bee right back." Shooting a last meaningful look into his sorrowful eyes, Bomber turned and strode into the bathroom.

Spider watched her go, still paralysed by the enormity of the consequences he was facing. He couldn't find the strength to speak, though he knew the silence was scaring her. Everything he'd planned, everything he'd dreamed, it was all cracked and broken, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to piece it back together, let alone whether it would be the same picture of the future he had once dared to imagine.

His left hand was still tingling from Bomber's fingers in his, and he was grateful that she had allowed him the small modicum of comfort holding his hand provided, especially considering he hadn't once turned back to look at her. Though he knew it was totally irrational, he was afraid of what he would see in her eyes – he couldn't bear it if she pitied him.

As if on cue, the water stopped running and Bomber exited the bathroom. Despite his misgivings, Spider's eyes were instantly drawn to the movement, and he looked at her properly for the first time since they'd heard the news. Far from pity, her warm chocolate eyes were filled with affection, worry, sympathy and…dare he think it – love? His lips quirked in a poor imitation of a smile, but it was enough for her to respond with a grin of her own, relief shining in her eyes.

Now that he'd glimpsed her tired – yet always beautiful – face he couldn't stop gazing at her, and followed her movements back to her chair by his bedside. She didn't even attempt to engage him in conversation, simply turned so she could rest her feet on the end of the bed and picked up his good hand once more, carefully avoiding the IV sticking out of it. Spider threw her a thankful look, and she nodded in acknowledgement, understanding that he needed time to come to terms with his now fractured dreams of the future. Cheering him up would come later, when the rest of the crew were there, and when he was ready to be cheered.

…………………………

0705 hours

He had been staring at the painting hanging across the hall for 10 minutes, but he wouldn't have been able to describe it if asked. His eyes were glazed over, his every thought focused on the woman in the room behind him. The unspecified nature of their relationship gnawed at him, and he longed to ask her…but it was impossible.

"Hey Buff, how's Nikki and the kid?"

Charge's voice startled Buffer out of his thoughts; he blinked and turned to see a group of people coming down the corridor.

"And Spider? Is he okay?" Sally was holding tightly to Swain's hand, and her attention was wholly focused on Buffer, so she didn't see the confused look Charge gave her.

"Did I not just ask about Spider?" He whispered to Swain, who nodded reassuringly.

"She thought you were asking about the baby." Swain didn't even need to consult his wife to understand her train of thought. Charge was about to comment further, but was stopped by Buffer answering Sally's question.

"Depends on your definition of okay." Buffer unconsciously sat up just that little bit straighter when he saw Mike behind the other three. "He'll live…but his wrist was shattered, might never be the same."

The four men shared a Look that spoke volumes; no words needed to be spoken for them to realise the possible ramifications this injury might cause to Spider's Navy career. Sally watched them, the cogs in her own head turning quickly as she waited for Buffer to continue. Her gaze came to rest on each man in turn, her husband and his best friends, united in their concern for their colleagues.

Eventually it became apparent that Buffer had become lost in his thoughts once again, and Sally couldn't hold in her questions any more. "What happened with Nikki? Why haven't you told us about her condition?" There was no disguising the worry in her voice, and she didn't even realise she was squeezing Swain's hand until he gasped and extracted it from her clutches.

Buffer sighed, wondering how exactly to explain the situation…where was the hot doctor with her medical jargon when he needed her? His thoughts slowly turned back to Nav, in the room behind him, and he had to concentrate to prevent himself becoming lost once again. He took a deep breath and began to explain, hoping against hope that he would be able to do it to the satisfaction of the four expectant faces in front of him.

…an hour earlier…

As soon as he exited Spider's hospital room, ET looked around, as if Nav's room would be magically pointed out to him. Well, it wasn't exactly magic, but Riley wordlessly led the three sailors to a door on the other side of the nurse's station.

The second they entered ET could tell that there was something wrong; Nav's room had twice the equipment of Spider's, and there was a loud rasping sound, the rhythm of which didn't _quite_ match the beep of her heart monitor. His pace unconsciously slowed when he heard it, nervousness obvious in his steps as he moved to her bedside.

To think that she looked tiny in the bed seemed like the ultimate hospital cliché, but there was a reason that such phrases became overused. She lay in the exact middle of the bed, the sling immobilising her injured left shoulder the only thing preventing the image from being symmetrical. Her dark brown hair had been released from the braid she so carefully imprisoned it in each morning, strands cascading over her shoulders and across her face.

ET reached out to brush the hair away from her mouth, but froze when he felt plastic. His hand moved of its own accord to uncover the mouthpiece, then traced the tube emanating from it until he found the source of the rasping noise. Nav was on a respirator. That was seriously bad.

He whirled around and almost smacked into X. The sight of his motionless girlfriend had consumed his focus so entirely that he hadn't noticed the rest of the group filing into the room after him. Riley and Buffer stood on the other side of the bed, watching him.

Brushing past X, ET moved to stand in front of Riley, "What the Hell happened to her? She was breathing fine when she left the ship!"

Buffer could see fire barely contained in his friend's eyes, and made to step in between him and the doctor, but Riley batted his arm away.

She was a good two inches shorter than ET – despite her heels – however she stood before him unflinchingly. "Lieutenant Caetano left the ship over twelve hours ago. There were complications with her head injury." Riley paused, expecting another outburst, but all three sailors had been silenced by the mention of complications. "Her concussion was more severe than first thought, and combined with the blood loss and the pregnancy, her body was put under too much stress and it just shut down. She's in a coma."

If the threesome looked devastated before, it had nothing on their reactions to this news. The light in Buffer's eyes was extinguished, he turned back to Nav and reached a hand towards her, but stopped short of actually touching her. X drew in a deep breath, then let it out shakily, oblivious to her fingers reaching for Nav's hand, lying static and cool on top of the blanket. ET looked like he was going to keel over; his hand came down hard on the end of the bed, pushing Nav's chart off the rail. The clatter of the metal clipboard on the floor caused them all to start, but only Riley's eyes turned to the noise, everyone else's attention remained on the unconscious woman before them.

…

Buffer's tale was interrupted by the entrance of two women, one blonde, one brunette. That X instantly moved to Mike's side was not lost on Buffer, whose gaze had turned to her the moment he glimpsed that blonde hair. Every other eye was turned expectantly to the second female, whose white coat told them she would be a more useful information resource than Buffer.

"Nikki will be OK, won't she?" Sally was the first one to speak, gaining Riley's attention merely by the fact that she was the only one wearing casual clothes.

Swain was so used to answering these types of questions, he replied before Riley could, "I've heard comas are a pretty common way of the body protecting itself when it gets overwhelmed."

The doctor nodded, "That's true, however there are other issues to consider. Lieutenant Caetano's body brought on the coma itself, so there's no way to determine exactly what's happening inside her, unlike when we medically induce a coma to help someone's body heal. There's been no brain damage so far as we can tell, but we're limited in what kinds of scans we can do, because MRIs and CAT scans are risky during pregnancy. We need to be absolutely sure the benefits will outweigh the risks before we proceed."

Sally had sunk into a chair with the mention of brain damage, and Swain sat next to her, anxiously clutching her hand as they gazed at one another. Charge's face had lost all traces of the smile he'd sported as he entered the hospital, and he now leaned against the wall opposite Nav's door, eyes on the scuffed lino. Mike was the only one who remained stoic throughout the explanation, however his grave expression showed his concern for his Navigator.

"The other problem is the coma itself," Riley continued, and all eyes snapped back to her, worried with the mention of yet more concerns. "The idea is that your body shuts down and only your vitals are preserved, to allow your immune system to fight without interference. However when a person is in a coma for an extended period of time, auxiliary systems will cease to operate." X and Swain were the only ones who seemed to understand what the doctor meant, so she expanded on it. "In the short-term, the coma will help her and the baby, but the reproductive system is an auxiliary one, so there could be serious complications with the pregnancy if it lasts for more than 48 hours."

A loud gasp was heard, but it didn't come from Sally, despite her wide eyes and open mouth.

Instead all heads turned to look at ET, who had one hand on the door handle of Nav's room, the other covering his mouth. "S-s-so w-wha…" He trailed off, blue-grey eyes pleading for someone to alleviate his fears.

X moved towards him, not knowing what she would do when she got there, but equally aware that she couldn't leave him standing alone. She hesitated a moment then placed a hand on his arm, a meagre attempt at comfort.

Riley answered the unspoken question, "We will monitor her carefully over the next 40 hours or so, and if there are no developments then we'll look at the possibility of further tests to rule out any brain damage. But ultimately it's up to her body to bring her out of the coma."

……………………


	12. Chapter 12

I know I say it every time, but I am sorry it's taken so long. Have already started on the next one - this is so much fun to write! Thanks to livi for the beta.

**Chapter 12**

1015 hours

He stared at the table in front of him, thinking hard. There was a lot riding on this decision, and he didn't want to rush. But by the same token, he couldn't justify keeping them waiting for too long. Already they were shifting irritably, the rickety hospital chairs loudly announcing every miniscule movement. She was a calming presence beside him, her breaths soft against his neck, and though he knew it was killing her to remain silent, he was grateful she wasn't trying to influence his decision.

"Two," He finally made up his mind, eliciting loud sighs of relief from his crewmates.

"Bout time, Spide," Charge said, laying down his own bet. "It's poker, not chess."

Spider and Bomber both opened their mouths to object, but Buffer got in first. "He's learning, give him a break," He admonished, then cracked a grin. "But seriously mate, all that time thinking and you only bet two?"

Bomber lifted a foot to kick him, but overbalanced and fell off the bed with a clatter, very nearly taking Spider's IV with her. All four men instantly reached out for her, Spider managing to touch her finger before she went over.

"Well that was embarrassing." She announced, ignoring the hand Buffer offered and pushing herself up off the floor. The moment she got to her feet, she silently turned to kick Buffer in the leg, then crawled back onto the bed and settled herself beside Spider once again.

Buffer glared at her as he rubbed his leg – she hadn't held anything back with the kick, and was still wearing her heavy dress shoes. He surveyed the table and turned his eyes to the man sitting directly across from him. "You calling, Swaino?"

They took their cues from Buffer, focusing back onto the game as Swain folded, his face screwing up in frustration.

Spider turned his head to whisper in Bomber's ear, "You okay?"

She smirked and lightly ran her fingers up his arm, "Fine. Nothing hurt but my pride."

"It was a pretty impressive fall, even from my perspective." He blew into her ear in a way he knew she hated, giving her a shit-eating grin when she threw him a murderous look.

"Ahem." A fake cough drew their attention away from one another, and they turned back to find three very different faces staring at them. Swain, the one who had spoken, was amused; Charge looked wistful whilst Buffer had an expression Spider couldn't quite place. It almost looked like…jealousy. But he couldn't seriously be envious of Spider, could he? Did Buffer really want to be stuck in a hospital bed with a hole in his gut, a cast on his arm and his future prospects in tatters? Then Bomber shifted next to him and it clicked.

But before Spider could ponder this new realisation, Bomber leaned forward and gathered his cards. "Hey! Those're mine!" He moved his good hand to take them from her, but was hampered by the IV in the back of his hand. "I let you stay because you promised you'd let me learn."

"But you're so _slow._" She replied, examining the two cards while also keeping them out of his reach.

"You taking over isn't going to help me learn any faster," he pointed out, cursing his injured arm, which forced him to lie flat. Unable to get to her hand, he instead poked her in the stomach.

She grabbed his fingers away from her midsection and squeezed, "I'm not taking _over,_ I – Spide why the hell are you betting so low?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and he stared at her incredulously. Sheepishly passing him back the cards, she managed to keep her voice steady when she murmured, "Okay, maybe you're learning quicker than I thought."

All four men rolled their eyes, and Spider didn't gain any more money before winning the hand with his straight flush.

The game continued, Bomber more content to sit and watch now that she was sure the others weren't taking advantage of the newbie. Although he struggled to remember the hierarchy of winning hands and couldn't bluff to save his life, Spider's tactics were excellent, and he was able to take a few largish pots. She watched him fondly, the smile on his face so wide she could almost forget they were someplace other than the junior sailors' mess.

Swain called his atrocious attempt at a bluff, and the room was filled with raucous laughter for a minute before a hiss caused all mirth to drain from the room instantly. All eyes were on Spider, who was clutching his bad arm, eyes screwed up in agony.

Bomber scrambled off the bed and watched as Swain tried to get Spider to communicate, while Buffer pressed the buzzer for the nurse. She didn't realise her hand was over her mouth and nose until she struggled to take a breath; which was only after the nurse had come in and administered another dose of painkillers. Spider instantly relaxed, thought his grimace told her the pain wasn't entirely numbed.

She shouldn't have been sitting up there with him, it had only been asking for trouble when he had cords going every which way and wasn't able to move his right arm without crying out. When the boys had first walked into the room with the pack of cards, she hadn't thought twice about climbing into bed beside him; had actually been surprised Spider allowed her to do it, given he still hadn't spoken a word directly to her. But neither was she going to let him out of her sight when he was still feeling so fragile; she had felt the tightening of his hand in hers the moment the door opened. As much as Spider was glad to see his – _their_ – friends, he wasn't entirely comfortable being around them while he was confined to the bed. His entire life, friendships, had revolved around physical activities, and he wasn't sure how to act when this was impossible. Bomber knew all this without him explaining it; she listened and interpreted the stories he told her when they shared takeout and pretended to watch movies while on shore leave together.

So she stayed, even after he relaxed enough to join in the joking, enjoying a rare moment of being able to observe the friendship without having to hide her affection. Unlike Nav and ET, she and Spider had made a concerted effort to hide their relationship while on board, and although the more observant crew members – Buffer, Nav and Swain – had figured it out, they had still been hiding from the bosses. But now that everything was in the open, and the captain seemed to have accepted the relationship without serious consequences, she felt free to blur that line between friendship and something more.

"Spider, your fingers are purple!" Swain's voice cut through Bomber's thoughts and she blinked, eyes focusing on the cast lying on top of the bed clothes.

The fingertips peeking out the end of the fibreglass were, as Swain had just explained, a purpley-blue colour, which reminded Bomber of the colour of her hands when she made mulberry pies.

Bomber let out a gasp and her eyes flew to his, expecting her shock to be reflected on his face. But there was only curiosity in his brown eyes, as if the motionless limb belonged to another person. His brow furrowed as he tried to do something, but there was no movement anywhere in the room. Alarm flashed briefly in his eyes before concentration returned. The entire room was silent save for the perpetual beep of his heart monitor…a beep that was steadily increasing as he panicked.

"I…ca…ee…em." It was a whisper that she would have missed had her gaze not been locked on his face.

As it was she couldn't understand the words, "What?"

"My fingers." Horror-stricken eyes met hers, and she drew in a shaky breath. "I can't feel them."

Although she'd been aware of the severity of his injuries before, the cast had blinded her to the real issue; it was only now that she comprehended that the cast coming off wouldn't mean everything was alright. The full weight of it hit her, and even though tears welled up in her eyes, she refused to let them fall in front of the crew, in front of _him_. She knew he would interpret them as pity tears and it was the last thing she wanted. She contemplated leaving the room to compose herself, only to dismiss the idea in the next second. If crying was pity, what would he think of her leaving, however briefly?

But it must have shown in her eyes, for his face twisted in a snarl. "Go ahead and leave then, I know you want to." His eyes were turning liquid too, and their gazes locked, oblivious to everyone else in the room. "It's only a matter of time anyway." She just gaped at him, completely gobsmacked at the outburst. He motioned to the door with his good arm, "Don't let the door smack you on the way out, _Becky_."

If the sarcasm dripping from every word of his last sentence hadn't clued her in, the fact that he used her most hated nickname? Caused any sympathy to go flying out the window, along with her tears. She stalked towards him and poked him in the chest roughly. "The only reason you're still breathing is because you're already confined to this bed." A grin broke through her thunderous façade. "You're going to be asking me to leave long before I choose to."

……………………

1025 hours

No matter how long he stared at her, no matter how many times he saw her chest rise and fall with his own eyes, ET couldn't forget that it was a machine doing this for her. And even if he had somehow managed to trick his mind, the audible sucking would remind him.

Nav lay in front of him, and yet she wasn't really there. Everything he associated with the woman he loved; the sparkle in her eyes, the sound of her laugh, the wide grin on her face when she looked at him – it was all gone. Her body was a prison, trapping inside everything that made her _Nikki_.

And yet…her hand was warm in his. There was a bruise where the IV needle pierced her arm. Yes she was still alive, and he clung to that fact like a lifeline, the only thing keeping him from drowning in misery.

The bump at her midsection moved with her breaths, and he gazed at it, imagining his child moving around inside. The child he had only found out about the previous morning. One which he was still trying to wrap his head around, even as he wordlessly urged Nav to wake up, to prove to him that everything was going to work out.

If he hadn't woken before the alarm yesterday morning, hadn't heard her retching in the bathroom, would she have told him? Or would he have been informed as the others were; by the sight of her swollen stomach?

…the previous morning…

ET blinked, and frowned at the ceiling. He turned his head to peer at the glowing numbers of the alarm clock; 0640 hours. What on earth had woken him up almost an hour before the alarm?

Then he heard it. The unmistakable sound of retching. Coming from down the hall.

It only took one second for him to realise the bed beside him was empty but still warm, and another for his sleep-addled brain to comprehend the meaning of it. He flew out of the bedroom, and knelt next to her as she hunched over the toilet. Though his mind was racing with possibilities, he managed to keep his questions to himself, instead sweeping her hair off the back of her neck and pressing a cool washcloth to the bared skin.

But as soon as she finished, even as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, his queries spilled out. Was she alright, had this happened before, maybe it was the food they'd eaten the night before.

Nav sighed and closed her eyes for a brief moment, visibly preparing herself for something. She thrust a hand at ET, and he mutely helped her up. The baggy t-shirt she wore – stolen from his drawer – caught on the lid of the toilet as they stood, pulling taught over her abdomen. Both of them froze instantly.

"I was going to tell you…" Nav trailed off when ET turned his disbelieving gaze on her. "I-we…shit." She shook her head sadly, sinking down to sit on the edge of the bathtub.

Still in shock, he gaped at her stomach for a few moments before dropping to his haunches beside her. "You're…pregnant?"

She nodded wordlessly, fear evident in her eyes as she waited for his reaction. Tears pooled in them when he didn't say anything else, just continued staring at her.

ET reached out hesitantly towards the bulge now clearly visibly under her shirt, but stopped before he touched it. "May I?"

Her lips curved into a smile and she pulled his outstretched hand to her abdomen, pulling up her shirt to expose bare skin. A matching grin grew on his face as his fingers traced the smooth surface; he'd touched it a hundred times before, but this was a whole new experience.

………

A touch on his shoulder brought him back to the present. He blinked and looked up to see Sally smiling gently. "Thought you might need this," she offered a cup of coffee, steam still rising from the Styrofoam.

He tried to smile, but settled for a quirk of his lips, "Thanks."

Taking the coffee from her outstretched hand, he turned his gaze back to Nav and brought the cup to his lips. The moment the bitter liquid slid down his throat, realisation dawned on him. Nav hadn't been drinking coffee for over five months, and he had never noticed. What kind of boyfriend was he?

"How long have you known?" He didn't turn his head, but the question was loud enough for Sally to understand the words.

She sat in the chair beside him and took his hand, "ET-Josh. I tried to get her to tell you, I-" He shot her a Look, and she sighed. "Three months. And every time I saw her, I brought it up again. You deserved to know, and she was risking her health to keep it from you, from everyone on the ship."

"She's too stubborn for her own good." He exhaled heavily, turning his gaze back to his girlfriend. "Now everyone knows…and it might not even matter." Grasping her motionless hand in both of his, he tilted his face into the bed.

Not wanting to intrude on the private moment, Sally stood to leave, but she couldn't do so before at least attempting to reassure him. She placed a hand on his shoulder, "Nikki will wake up. You know her; she'll do it in her own time."

She waited a moment, but received no response; ET didn't so much as move a muscle. Casting her gaze over the still form in the bed one last time, Sally noticed that the pattern of Nav's hospital gown was the same as her own had been when Chloe was born. When she'd been alone in the hospital. It hadn't been Swain's fault, and she knew in her heart that he would have preferred to be with her, but in the end it was the nurse holding her hand through the contractions, not her husband.

One glance at ET's white knuckles told her how lucky Nav was to have a man like him. She'd seen many women – hell, she'd experienced it herself – whose partners put their career before their relationship. From what Nav had told Sally about their relationship, it was ET who had been willing to risk everything and Nav who'd been cautious.

Curly blonde hair blocked her view of Nav's abdomen, reminding Sally of how Swain had done the same thing during her pregnancy. She smiled ruefully, wishing her friend would wake up and see ET's dedication for herself.

"Josh…" Wanting to reassure him, Sally tried to take his hand, but he refused to let go of Nav's. "She _will_ pull through this. You know Nikki would never leave you, not like this." With this final statement, Sally quietly walked away, turning back at the door for one last look at the forlorn figure hunched over her friend's bed.

Though he didn't move, ET was hyper aware of every sound, every movement in the room; listening for a change in the tempo of her breathing, or the lightest contraction of her fingers. He felt a slight pressure against his temple, and his eyes flew open, but didn't focus on anything. Well, nothing external. He lifted his head, staring at the blanket in wonder as he ran his fingers over the bump it covered. What else had he missed during the past six months?

A grin appeared on his face despite his mood. That was his child. His son or daughter. Resting one hand on her belly, he raised his eyes to Nav's, only for his face to fall when he saw her closed lids.

It was his one of his few jobs as a father-to-be; he had to keep her safe. And he'd failed.

He squeezed her hand, hard, praying she would wake up and tell him off. But her eyes remained shut despite his hopeful gaze, face peaceful as if she was merely sleeping. Her dark hair contrasted sharply with the pallor of her skin, so different to her normal tan.

The baby kicked again, a tiny knock against his palm, and, out of nowhere, anger welled in his chest. Who was Nav to take all of this away from him? Even Susie had had the decency to _tell_ him about the pregnancy, despite not going through with it.

Pulling his hands away, ET pushed back from the bed. All of a sudden, he couldn't bear to be in close proximity to her. Without so much as a second glance, he left the room.

TBC...sooner than 2 months, I promise.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

1150 hours

Eight months. They had been dating for eight, almost nine months, and everything had been going along swimmingly. Or so ET had thought.

Blinded by anger and fuelled by adrenaline, he hadn't realised where he was going until he was standing on the sidewalk in front of the house Nav shared.

He glared at his hand, gold and silver keys winking at him as they twirled in the sunlight. One stood out, brighter than the rest. Nav's house key. It had been a big step for him to accept the commitment, but she knew that and didn't push for him to reciprocate…though he had, as quickly as he could get the key made. He'd had the key for four months but, until now, he'd never had cause to use it when she wasn't with him.

Restraining himself from slamming the front door, ET stalked towards Nav's room and banged that one shut instead. As he paced back and forth across the carpet, he avoided looking at the bed, not wanting his train of thought to be derailed by memories of happier times. A crinkle underfoot stopped him in his tracks; he looked down to see a black and white bag tossed haphazardly on the floor. He picked it up and set it on the bed, then resumed pacing, now glancing at the bed every few steps as his mind raced.

It was a Myer bag; she could have bought just about anything at the department store. So why did his instinct say the flash of red he'd seen was something for the baby? And even if it was, Nav deserved to have her secrets; what right did he have to go snooping through her stuff? The memory of her expression when he first saw her bump flashed through his brain, and the bag was in his hands before he fully processed what he was doing.

He felt a pressure in his chest, growing larger with every item he examined. A red and white striped t-shirt, tiny denim overalls, socks he could barely fit two fingers into and a teddy bear dressed as a sailor. Clutching the bear tightly, he closed his eyes and tried to take a calming breath, but all he saw was her pale face as she lay motionless in the hospital, and the lump in his throat didn't allow any air to pass by it.

His fingers started to lose feeling as he gripped the toy harder and harder. The tingling extending to the tips of his fingers cruelly reminded him of the tiny life he'd felt dwelling in Nav's stomach. A burning in his lungs jerked him out of his reminiscing and he sucked in a deep breath. The inhalation caused the anger deep within his chest to spill and, with a roar of anger, he hurled the bear as far as he could. A strange feeling of dissatisfaction overwhelmed him when the soft toy merely bounced off the wall. He briefly contemplated seeing if his fist would do the same, but punched the pillow instead.

Nav hadn't merely neglected to tell him about the baby, she'd actively _hidden_ it from him. There would have been symptoms she'd lied about, doctor's appointments she'd pretended were other things, not to mention her growing stomach. ET continued pounding the pillow, but with each punch came a new wave of realisation, which only served to make him more irate.

She controlled every facet of their relationship. They'd flirted on the Fremantle Hammersley, but only when she felt like it. He had to give up his entire love life – and at times it seemed like his entire being – for her to even contemplate dating him. And then, not half an hour after he arrived on the Armidale Hammersley, she'd broken up with him because he'd opted to spend an extra six months with her rather than tell Commander Marshall about their relationship. It took several near death experiences for her to realise that – and even then he didn't think she fully realised what he'd done for her. Everything in their relationship seemed to be controlled by her. Secrecy, dates, the strength of commitment, it was her way or no way at all. And, frankly, he was sick of it. It was time to take some control back over his own life.

……………………

1905 hours

"Bomber, don't you think you should slow down?" RO asked, brow furrowed in consternation as he watched his best friend down two vodka shots in quick succession, then chased them with swig of beer.

"Why? I'm having _fun_." She burped loudly and drained the rest of her glass. "Apparently this is what sailors on leave are supposed to do. Never mind that my boyfriend and one of my best friends are in hospital, I should pretend like it's any other night and. Enjoy. My. Self." Bomber punctuated the end of the sentence by slamming her palm on the bar in time with her words.

He rolled his eyes and moved to take the now-empty glass off her, just as she brought it down on the edge of the wood and lost control. "This is you enjoying yourself? Because it looks like you're getting trashed."

"I'm a sailor, aren't I? It's what we do," she retorted, signalling the bartender for another beer.

RO thought about trying to take it off her, but the combination of fire and sadness in her eyes stopped him. He watched her for a moment, as she chugged half her beer in two gulps. "So…you interested in seeing that _Australia_ movie?"

She swallowed, staring at him incredulously. "You ser'usly trying to distract me. By talking about _movies_? What was the last movie you went to, RO?" Before he could respond or object, she'd taken another shot and continued talking. "My boyfriend is lying in a bloody hospital bed, his entire frigging career poss'bly destroyed, and yet I'm s'posed to go out and have a good time?" She began tapping the empty shot glass on the bar, faster and faster as she got more worked up. "He friggin' kicks me out just because I've been there all day. Does he really think I want to be somewhere else? What the fuck did I do to give him that imp'ssion?"

Bomber stopped to take a breath – and gulp down the last of her beer – which allowed RO to process what she'd said. He realised how upset she sounded, and when he turned his gaze back to her face, he noticed the tears in her eyes. "Spider's an idiot."

"Don' call him an idiot!" She punched him, fist sliding off his arm almost as soon as it touched flesh.

He sighed, rubbing the spot she'd hit. "He does care about you, but he's scared, and…" RO put a hand on her arm, but she shrugged away the offer of comfort. "He's trying to push you away, Bec."

"You don't know what you're talking about," she proclaimed, turning her whole body away from him.

Her eyes darted around, taking in the various groups and couples scattered about the room. A middle-aged couple shared a bottle of wine, talking quietly. Two boys in their late teens slunk away from a table full of laughing girls, obviously having just been turned down. A lone man sat at the other end of the bar, fists clenched in a way that contradicted his slumped posture. Bomber squinted. The blonde hair looked familiar.

"ET!" she squealed, almost falling off her stool in her haste to get to him.

The man raised his head, and indeed it was ET. "Bom'r!" He grinned widely, and patted the stool next to him. "Come have a drink."

RO joined them, peering warily at ET and the empty glass in front of him. "You're drunk."

"Not very," ET shook his head, then blinked rapidly to clear the momentary dizziness. He took the shot Bomber handed him and clinked glasses with her, then downed it quickly. "Ahhh, that's good."

"To Nikki!" Bomber said, raising her empty glass.

ET nodded solemnly, banging his own on the bar. "'Nother round!"

"You're going to regret this tomorrow." RO warned half-heartedly, taking a sip of his own light beer – his first of the evening.

Bomber shrugged, pushing him on the shoulder. "Lighten up Rob't. We is enjoyen' ourselfs, while our boyfriends are hurt." ET coughed, and she looked at him in confusion. He motioned with his hands, and a light came on in her eyes. "Oh, sorry, your girlf'iend, not boy."

……………………

2020 hours

"Alright, that's enough for tonight. It's time to go home, Bomber." RO hooked a hand under her arm and brought her to her feet as he stood. She struggled, but the alcohol had sapped her strength and his grip was solid.

He managed to get her outside before she broke free, swinging a fist at his head as she twisted out of his grasp. Years of avoiding punches helped him dodge hers, though he caught her other hand when she stumbled with the circular momentum.

"Fight me!" Bomber screamed hysterically, attempting a karate chop to his neck.

RO blocked it easily, but refused to be drawn into retaliation. She continued to attack him, though her blows either missed altogether or were effortlessly stopped by the sober RO. Eventually he seized both of her hands and forced her to stop, allowing him to see the tears streaming down her face. She didn't seem to notice them, glaring at him with a hatred he hadn't seen directed his way before.

"I can' do an'thing to help…in somuch pain." Her words were jumbled and out of context, so it took RO a few seconds to understand she was talking about Spider. "No' fair…shou be me."

"Why should it have been you?" he asked quietly, and was taken aback when her eyes clouded over with sadness.

"He cov'ed for me. I' was my turn for boarding party."

Stunned, he released her hands and stared at her as she continued rambling; something about a mess in the galley. ET exited the pub before RO recovered. The drunken technician tripped down the steps, running into Bomber as he came to the bottom.

She used the force of his weight to spin around and lay a punch to his shoulder. ET responded immediately but, despite the fact she didn't duck, his swing missed her head completely. Bomber shot a kick at his stomach, causing him to double over, then threw a cross at his head, wincing when she hit his jawbone. "Oww!"

RO rolled his eyes, but didn't even think about stopping them; in their mutual drunken states they were unlikely to hit hard enough to cause one another serious injury.

ET and Bomber continued sparring, half of their blows hitting the wrong places…when they managed to connect at all, that was. He landed a jab to her side, but his uppercut missed her stomach, hitting her breast instead. She snarled and snapped a roundhouse kick that put him flat on his back.

"Nice 'un, Bomb," ET conceded, before sweeping her legs out from under her and forcing her to join him on the grass.

The moment her head touched the ground he was on top of her, pinning her hands above her head. They stared at one another wordlessly, panting in unison.

"I win," he said softly, intoxication causing brown eyes to turn blue-green as he leaned down to kiss her.

Their eyes slid closed, both responding to the person in their mind rather than the one they were touching. Bomber's arms came around him to pull him closer, while his hands slid under her head and cradled her neck.

RO stood less than two metres away, mouth hanging open in utter disbelief. Every fibre of his being told him to step in, stop them from doing something they'd regret. Well, something else. But he only took a single stride before his conscience stopped him. Bomber was his best friend, but she was the most stubborn, independent person he'd ever met. He knew that she had to make her own mistakes – and once she'd learned from them she would never do so again.

So he turned away, running a hand through his hair, unable to watch as she pulled ET's shirt from his pants and ran her palms along his bare back.

"Spi'r," she breathed, causing ET to pull away and stare at her in horror. What had they done?

TBC…


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

14th January, 2009

1045 hours

"I cannot imagine what they're going through," Mike commented, cradling a Styrofoam cup between his palms. "To see the person you love seriously injured, and being unable to do anything about it."

"I can," X replied quietly, turning to stare out the window when Mike looked at her questioningly. Her emotions were already on edge after the events of the previous few days, and she was afraid of what she would reveal if she met his gaze. "It's not just being unable to help," she continued, keeping her eyes focused on a bench sitting in the grounds. "It's that you can't even stay by their side as they recover, can't be there when they first wake up."

He stared at her profile for a few moments, trying to interpret the obvious underlying meaning. She'd been there as much as possible after he'd been injured…was she talking about him? "Puts things into perspective, doesn't it?" he commented, taking a sip of…well, the cafeteria said it was coffee, but even Spider's coffee wasn't that bad.

X twisted back to face him when he coughed, concern creasing her forehead. "What do you mean?"

Putting the cup down – and pushing it away for good measure – he looked into her eyes. "Life is so fragile, especially for us. We see the worst types of people, put our lives on the line to save people others wouldn't consider worth saving. The ship so often seems like an impenetrable fortress, and yet Nav was shot while aboard." As Mike spoke, their hands unconsciously edged closer; hers looked so tiny when right next to his large one.

"Any of us could be next," X murmured, eyes not leaving his. "And if something like this happens again…we might not be so lucky." Their hands were a mere centimetre apart by this time, and X made to close the gap, but a new voice stopped her.

"Lucky? Nav's in a coma and Spider's career is destroyed. That's lucky?" Buffer asked, sliding into the seat next to X as Charge sat beside Mike.

"They're both alive, aren't they?" she retorted, instantly pulling her hand back into her lap.

Charge nodded. "This is true." He turned to Mike. "Just got word that the engine overhaul is almost done. We'll be good to go first thing tomorrow morning."

"It's 'almost done', and yet we won't be able to leave for another 20 hours?" Mike smirked when Charge was unable to come up with an answer. His attention was diverted by a movement across the table; X was shifting her upper body away from Buffer. It was subtle, but Mike could tell from the set of Buffer's jaw that he had noticed.

X cursed her body's reaction to Buffer's presence. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up the moment he started speaking, and she felt a strange flutter in her stomach when he sat down beside her. She hadn't felt like this since…she inhaled sharply. Since just after she'd first met Mike.

Time had mellowed her physical reaction to Mike, however the feelings still echoed. And this was exactly the problem; she couldn't figure out if she still loved him or whether what she was feeling was just residue from their time together.

Buffer touched her arm in the same instant Mike looked into her eyes, and X suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe. Abruptly pushing back her chair, she stood and left without another word. Mike stared after her in confusion, but Buffer refused to give him the satisfaction of turning to watch her leave.

……………………

1100 hours

Bomber walked slowly through the corridor of the hospital, trying to jolt her body as little as possible. There was a gnome with a jackhammer pounding away in her head, occasionally punctuated by a clash of cymbals from her conscience. Why couldn't the inordinate amounts of alcohol have wiped her memory as well as given her the worst hangover she'd ever experienced? _Note to self: tequila is evil,_ she thought, then sighed. _And yet it's no excuse._

Seeking comfort from your friends was one thing, but making out with the father of your best friend's child? That was another thing altogether. Not to mention she had a boyfriend of her own, and the injuries…she slapped her forehead. _Ow!_ Could she have screwed this up any more?

Despite the hangover, it stuck her as odd to find Nav's room empty. Well, devoid of her crewmates; obviously Nav herself was still there, still breathing with the aid of a respirator, still in a coma. Ever since the _Hammersley_ docked there had been someone at her bedside; it was as if they believed she was more likely to wake up if she had a visitor. Not that Bomber understood how Nav would_ know_ any of this, but that was beside the point.

She threw herself into a chair, wincing as the hard plastic bit into her hip. Apparently even inanimate objects were punishing her now. Arranging herself as comfortably as possible, Bomber turned to face the bed, mouth open to begin her explanation, only for the words to die in her throat. Maybe it was the lack of other distractions in the room, or the pounding in her head was somehow helping her see things she'd previously missed, but the first thing she noticed was the two thin wires snaking out from beneath the blankets at Nav's abdomen. As she followed them with her eyes, Bomber briefly wondered why there would be wires attached to Nav's stomach.

Then she saw what they were connected to, and had to consciously prevent herself from smacking a palm to her forehead – having learned exactly how much that hurt earlier that morning. Though the sound was turned down, this machine was identical to the one which monitored Nav's heart rate. 149 beats per minute. She wasn't up on foetal heart rates, but Bomber was pretty sure a heartbeat that fast was a good sign – the baby was most likely perfectly healthy.

The numbers changed every so often – 147, 153, 151 – and Bomber watched absentmindedly, slowly glancing back and forth between her friend's still form and the monitor which separated child from mother. Her thoughts were whirling around inside her head, dodging the consciousness as it attempted to catch and make sense of something specific. _Spider…Baby…Injury…Nav… Kiss…Drunk…ET…Guilty…Spider…ET…Nav…Kiss…_

"It's all your fault, you know," she blurted out, and for a moment wondered why she was whispering. Well, it wasn't like anyone was _listening_ anyway, why should she yell? "The two of you went and got yourselves shot, and caused this whole mess." Laying a hand on the blanket-covered bump, Bomber felt a kick against her palm almost instantly, and she stared at the faded blue fabric for a moment. "Actually, you buggered things up long before that. Okay, the pregnancy was a surprise, but not telling ET? Or, hell, anyone on board?" She paused, looking up at her friend's pale face, and a sad smile crossed her lips. "We would have helped you, but you never gave us a chance." The accusatory tone dropped, but only for a moment. "You had the X wondering whether you considered her a friend!"

When Bomber was frustrated, she normally took it out on vegetables, but there were no carrots to be found in this room, so she jiggled her foot up and down, faster and faster as she got more worked up.

"You and your secrets, Spider and his insecurity…the two of you are fucking with our heads! It's no wonder we ended up making out – I thought he was Spider, and he thought I was you." Not in the least bit perturbed about having this conversation with herself, she continued as if Nav had asked the inevitable question. "We were drunk, though I know that's not really an excuse. I _really _want to thump some sense into the two of you, coz neither of you appreciates what you have, but now you're hurt, so I can't, and-" Feeling herself on the verge of exploding, Bomber stood up and grabbed Nav's chart off the end of the bed. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself down as she flipped through the pages.

_GSW to the left shoulder, minimal damage, perforation of the deltoid and pectoralis major was repaired via-_

Bomber was so caught up in trying to understand the medical terminology that she didn't hear the door open, nor the footsteps behind her.

"I thought only the doctors were supposed to read those charts," X commented wryly, startling Bomber.

She dropped the chart onto the bed and turned around quickly, explanation ready on her lips. But before she could get it out, there was movement under the blanket. Nav was moving her leg.

The two women stared at one another in disbelief, until a noise made them turn back to their friend. The noise continued, a sound neither of them had heard for almost two full days. Though the words were unintelligible, Nav was speaking.

"She's coming out of it."

TBC…


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

1400 hours

Spider hated hospitals. Now, though many people would make this same proclamation, in his case he had only recently discovered the hatred. The first 20 years of his life, he had only visited a hospital three times; twice to have broken bones diagnosed and set, and the third time to visit his new baby cousin. But now, stuck in a room for days on end, he was beginning to understand why so many people loathed the place.

He felt like a human pincushion. In addition to the hole in his gut, he had bruises in the crooks of both elbows from all the blood draws, and the nurse had just inserted the fourth IV line into the back of his hand. Never having stayed in hospital, Spider had just found out that he had small, uncooperative veins; they kept collapsing, which meant a new line and yet another needle stick. But did they really expect him to remain motionless in bed? His right arm hurt too much to move, and he couldn't just lie there.

It had been hard enough watching ET, Charge and Buffer playing Xbox without him. Spider had been more than a little surprised when ET had showed up with the box under his arm that morning. Though they were friends, he had expected ET to spend all his time worrying at Nav's bedside. But instead it seemed the Leading Seaman was intent on cheering Spider up, despite looking somewhat worse for wear. Indeed he had been crestfallen when they finally realised there was no way for Spider to manipulate the controls as required with only one hand. So Spider had been forced to watch – and comment – as the other three did battle.

Eating lunch had been a somewhat interesting experience – he wasn't used to solely using his left hand…yeah, that was a good excuse for why he'd hardly eaten anything. Nothing to do with the taste (or lack thereof) of the food. Now, having waved away the protests of the nurses when they saw his almost-full plate, he was gaping at the physical therapist that had just entered his room.

"You want me to what?"

"Get up. You need to start walking as soon as possible after surgery." The guy barely looked older than Spider himself, yet his stance was one of authority.

"What about my arm?" Spider tried to get the point across without actually saying the words.

"What about it?" It seemed the PT was going to make him say it out loud.

"It hurts when I move it across the bed. And you want me to be swinging it around as I walk? No thanks." He crossed his left arm across his chest, but the folded arms didn't have _quite_ the same effect with only one.

"That's because you're trying to move your injured wrist. Move it from the shoulder and it won't hurt as much." The guy let the statement simmer for a moment before adding the cherry. "And the sooner you get up, the sooner they can take that catheter out."

"Okay, let's do it." Spider's instantaneous reply caused a wide grin to spread across the PT's face.

Being careful not to tangle himself in his IV line – again – Spider slowly lifted his right arm from the shoulder, as instructed, and chuckled when the expected sharp pain remained absent. The PT helped him swing his legs around and then, for the first time in almost two days, Spider stood up.

And groaned loudly as soon as he straightened up. It was only the presence of the PT that kept him from collapsing back onto the bed.

"That'd be your stomach wound. Just take it easy."

This time Spider didn't try to stand up straight, hunching over just enough that the stitches in his abdomen didn't pull. He looked at the guy supporting him, whose face suggested he saw grown men fighting to stay upright every day. Okay, so maybe he did, but Spider was glad he wasn't trying to encourage him to do things faster. "What's your name, anyway?" he asked, suddenly realising he'd been so busy cursing hospitals that he'd missed the inevitable introduction.

"Ethan Hayes. And you're…William, or is there a nickname you'd prefer?"

Spider shuddered. "Only my mother calls me William. Most people call me Spider, as in spider web."

Ethan grinned and nodded. "Well Spider, you ready to walk?"

"Am I ever. Let's go." Spider moved towards the door, being careful not to move either arm too much.

"Whoa, don't forget this!" Ethan caught the IV pole before it hit the floor, and moved it to Spider's side, wrapping the seaman's left hand around it. "There's a reason these things have wheels, you know."

"Right." Spider grasped the metal pole and moved slowly through the open door, relishing the opportunity to be out of bed.

……………………

1100 hours

When they exited Spider's hospital room after the Xbox tournament, Buffer and Charge expected to follow ET into the room two doors down; Nav's room. To their surprise the Leading Seaman didn't so much as glance at the closed door, merely continued walking down the corridor. Charge & Buffer stood outside room number 8 for a few seconds, staring after the rapidly retreating form of ET, before they regained their senses and hurried after him.

"Mate, you're not going in to see Nikki?" Charge clapped a hand on ET's shoulder, forcing him to stop walking.

"No," was the reply, the icy tone something neither Buffer nor Charge had ever heard from ET before.

Observing the tension in his friend's jaw and the storm raging in the grey-blue eyes, Buffer spoke in an even tone. "Whatever issues you and Nav have, you'll have to deal with them later." He took a deep breath and managed to voice his next sentence without wavering. "Number one most important thing in life; being there when someone you love comes back from the brink of death."

But instead of calming him down, the words only served to further enrage ET. "And she wouldn't be anywhere near the brink of death if she hadn't been such an idiot! She shouldn't have been on the ship at all, or at the very least she should have been safely inside. Who does she think she is, endangering our child like that?"

The vehemence in his words stunned Buffer and Charge, the latter dropping his hand from ET's shoulder as they watched him explode.

"She didn't even _tell_ me! If I hadn't caught her puking that morning, I could have found out the way you guys did. How about that, finding out you're going to be a father while the woman you love is bleeding out. Fucking Nikki and her control issues." Turning his eyes downward, he kicked at the scuffed lino. "Always has to be in control, can't possibly let someone else share the burden. I'm glad she's unconscious, maybe now she'll learn how it feels to have no control over your own life." He snarled the final words and stalked off, leaving a pair of shell-shocked Petty Officers in his wake.

"Whoa," was all Charge could manage, but the word seemed to break Buffer out of his daze.

"He finally figured it out. Shocking timing, but it's about freaking time." Buffer glanced at Nav's closed door. "When you finally wake up, Navvie, you'll need to do some serious damage control."

"Yet more 'control'. I'm sure ET will _love_ that." Charge snarked, then looked to his belt when his phone rang. "Thorpe…oh, hey…already?... great, I'll let the boss know."

"I think the boss was headed to the cafeteria," Buffer said as Charge went to dial Mike's number. "Why don't we 'let him know' in person. And on the way you can tell me the good news."

……………………

1230 hours

The two women had been waiting for over an hour, but neither of them had even the slightest inclination to move from their positions outside Nav's hospital room. In the last 20 minutes Bomber and X has been joined by Buffer, Swain and Sally. No-one spoke, nor made eye contact with one another; everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Even Swain, humming under his breath as he gently rocked a sleeping Chloe in his arms, didn't try to get any further information our of X or Bomber. They waited.

Eventually – finally – the sound of wheels moving towards them drew all eyes to the corridor. Two nurses pushed Nav's bed back into her room, while Dr Riley Patterson stopped to address the group.

"The CAT scan revealed a few small contusions in the occipital region – that's the back of the head – and a fracture in the base of her skull, which sounds a lot worse than it is!" she added quickly, in response to the gasps from the sailors in front of her. "They were probably caused by the impact with the metal deck, but neither the contusions nor the fracture is likely to cause any permanent damage." Riley paused to review her notes on the chart, which allowed the barrage of questions to start.

"What about the baby? It'll be okay, right?" Sally spoke first, seemingly unconcerned about their voices waking Chloe.

"She moved spontaneously," X began, only for Buffer to cut her off.

"-and she spoke. Does that mean she's out of the coma?"

"What kinds of side effects will the skull fracture cause?" Swain, always the medic, asked, his arms ceasing all movement. Chloe didn't so much as stir, still clutching the stuffed purple dragon she used as a security blanket.

"We won't know for certain until she wakes up, but she shouldn't have any serious complications, and her vital signs have been stable since she was brought in, so the baby should be fine too. A fractured skull usually leads to nausea, lethargy and a pretty bad headache, but they should only last for a few days, possibly up to a week after she regains consciousness." Riley turned to the only blonde in the group, the one whose eyes she had felt boring into her skull the entire time she'd been explaining the situation. "A coma patient's condition is graded according to the Glasgow Coma Scale. There are a number of different tests to determine how responsive the patient is. Illegible speaking and movement in response to pain indicate Lieutenant Caetano's score has increased, but she is not fully responsive yet. We'll keep a close eye on her progress, and I expect she will be fully conscious within two or three days." Though everyone's eyes lit up at the news, their bodies still showed the same defeat they had before. "This is good news," she prompted.

"Yeah, it's great news," X began, looking at the now-open doorway of Nav's room. "But we're sailing in the morning, may not be back for a few days."

Riley nodded somberly in understanding, and everyone was silent for a few moments, all thoughts on the woman unconscious mere metres from them. A soft cry broke the silence, and Buffer took Chloe from Swain before it could escalate to a scream. He bounced her on his knee, whispering quietly and smiling despite the worry lines still evident on his forehead.

X watched the pair curiously, surprised to see Buffer so at ease with the little girl. She wouldn't have picked him for someone good with children; he always seemed too gruff and tough. But then again, hadn't she been witness to exactly how gentle and sensitive he could be?

Shaking her head just the slightest bit, X turned her eyes to Riley. "Can we go and see her?"

Riley smiled gently and nodded. "Of course."

Glancing at her crewmates, X didn't even need to speak the words for them to understand what she wanted.

"You go first, X," Bomber spoke up, indicating with her hand, as if X couldn't understand what she was saying.

She nodded curtly and, shooting one last look at Buffer and Chloe, entered Nav's room. Allowing the door to swing shut, X leaned against it and took in the hospital equipment surrounding her best friend. It looked the same as before, and yet now that she knew Nikki wasn't going to be depending on the machines for much longer, they looked less frightening and less permanent.

Her feet moved across the room of their own accord, until she was standing beside the bed. Taking Nav's hand in her own, X pulled a chair over with her foot and sat down. "Nikki, I need your help," she began, a wry smile crossing her face. Only Nikki would continue to be her therapist whilst in a coma.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"Nav, mark the buoy's position on radar."

She didn't look up from her log book. "It's already marked, Sir."

He smirked. "Just once, I'd like to get in ahead of you."

"In your dreams, Sir." She grinned and turned a page, still entirely focused on what she was doing.

Mike blinked, and when he reopened his eyes Nav was staring at her radar screen, her concentration miles away. "Did you mark the contact? Nav?"

At the mention of her name, she turned to face him, bags evident underneath her eyes. She was obviously exhausted. For a moment, Mike contemplated telling her to get some rest, but thought better of it – he knew she would ask if she really needed to be excused.

"Sorry, what was that, sSir?" Despite her obvious distraction, her voice was nothing but work; she was the consummate professional.

"The suspected pirate vessel, I asked you to mark its signal."

"Oh, uh. Not yet." Eyes back on her radar screen, she quickly located and marked the contact. "Done, Sir."

He squinted at her; when it came to her radar, it wasn't like Nav to need an order, let alone a reminder. "You okay, Nav?"

"Hmm?" She was off in space again, and stared at him blankly for a moment before his question registered. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Mike watched curiously as she picked up her mug and sniffed its contents, but she didn't smile at the smell of coffee, as she normally did. A moment later she levered herself out of her seat, her heavily pregnant stomach making it hard for her to get to her feet. He kept his gaze on her as she waddled to the stairs, moving slowly down them. No one on the bridge noticed or moved to help her.

Then there was a cry, and a thud.

"Nav!" Mike sat straight up in his rack, his heart pounding. It took him a few seconds to realise where he was, and what had happened. Nav hadn't fallen down the stairs…she'd been shot. But she _was_ pregnant.

He remembered that day, about a month ago, when Nav had forgotten to mark a contact even after he'd asked her to. Thankfully he had reminded her before it left the range of the Hammersley's radar. Those other clues in his dream… he hadn't noticed them at the time.

Shaking his head, he wondered if he would ever stop berating himself. Probably not until Nav herself told him to do so. If that ever occurred. _No!_ He slapped himself in the forehead, _do not think like that. She will be fine_.

The red glow of the digital clock drew his attention. 0518 hours. Not much point going back to sleep, seeing as he had to be up in less than an hour. Instead he forced himself out of bed and headed for the shower.

…………………….

15th January, 2009

0630 hours

As the Hammersley moved away from port, Mike climbed the stairs to the bridge, feeling a slight twinge in his stomach when he saw X's blonde plait hanging over the back of Nav's chair. He moved forward through the room, and was more than a little surprised to find ET on the bridge – and at the helm, no less.

"ET? You sure you up to this?" Mike asked, causing ET to turn towards him.

"I want to keep busy," was the reply. ET's eyes were completely focused, and his expression was determined.

Mike nodded sagely. "Okay, fine. But remember you're on galley duty with Bomber for the entirety of this evolution." He sat in the captain's chair, looking out the forward windows into the grey morning and missing the flare of alarm in ET's eyes at the mention of Bomber. "And you're doing a muster of all the boarding gear, preferably before we get a call out." Looking sideways at ET out of the corner of his eye, Mike saw the tension in his jaw. "You have a right to be angry with her," he began, neither of the men looking at one another. "But you should also give her a chance for forgiveness." He sighed heavily, glancing down at his own fingers clutching the armrest. "If you let one fight ruin everything, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

The sorrow that slipped into Mike's words caused ET to look at his boss curiously; he was obviously speaking from experience. "Sir?"

But Mike's brain had finally caught up with his mouth, and he now sat rigidly in his seat, acutely aware of the inquisitive looks he was receiving…and much more concerned about the one from his right.

X stared at the captain, wondering if she'd heard correctly. Seeing her own curiosity reflected in ET's face, she figured she had.

Careful not to turn his head in either direction, Mike checked his watch then cleared his throat. "I believe you're supposed to be on galley duty, ET. We have some hungry sailors waiting for breakfast."

Slightly confused by the abrupt change of subject, ET continued staring for a few seconds. It wasn't until X cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow at him that he followed the order.

…………………….

They'd been working side by side for over 15 minutes, the silence only broken when Bomber told ET to do something. He followed every instruction without question, well aware that ranks meant nothing in Bomber's galley.

Both were studiously ignoring the elephant in the room; the alcohol they had consumed That Night nowhere near enough to make them forget. Their eyes stayed on their tasks at all times, hadn't so much as met since ET had first walked into the galley.

Just as Bomber was transferring scrambled eggs to the serving pan, RO walked past. He stopped in his tracks when he saw who else was in the galley, eyeing the distance between the two.

"It's not just going to go away, you know," RO eventually said, resting a hand on the metal shelf. Bomber's eyes widened and she shook her head, just once, while ET's focus remained intently on the toaster. "I'm just saying… you do need to keep working together." He waited a beat, then raised an eyebrow. "Hmph. Denial seems to be working really well for you so far." He was gone before either of them could formulate a response.

For a few moments they continued working in silence, though Bomber could feel ET's eyes on her back. He wouldn't meet her gaze, even when she banged her spatula onto the counter and spun to face him.

"RO's right. We need to talk about what happened." There was no response. "ET, if you're not going to talk, can you at least look at me?"

He finally turned around and her next thought was struck from her mind when she saw his expression; the guilt in his eyes caused them to be more grey than blue.

"It was a mistake," he said, voice hoarse. "We were drunk."

Bomber nodded. "Not to mention stressed and angry. I think we should just forget it and move on." ET hesitated and she stepped towards him. "Like you said, it was a drunken mistake; we can't let it wreck four lives. They don't need to know." _Nav already does_, a little voice in her head told her. _You told her it was her fault you kissed him._ She ignored it. Nav was in a coma, she couldn't hear anything.

ET looked towards the serving window, where RO had glanced in. "What about RO?"

Voices down the hall interrupted them; the crew were impatient for breakfast. Throwing a quick glance at the still-empty window, Bomber spoke quietly. "He doesn't gossip. Look, it happened. It's over. Don't let it destroy all of us."

The clattering of hungry sailors moving down the hallway stopped him from responding verbally, so he merely nodded and turned his attention to the serving of breakfast. Fried eggs, tomato and bacon; scrambled eggs, mushrooms and sausage; fried eggs and sausage…everyone's plate looked slightly different. He quickly got into the rhythm of serving; it was rather cathartic, actually, a great way for him to de-stress after everything that had happened over the past few days.

Unfortunately, his fellow sailors used the meal queue as an opportunity to catch up on one another's shore leave antics. And the most predominant event everyone wanted to talk about? Hospital visits.

"So how long will it be before Navvie's out of the coma?" Charge held out his plate, his face falling when Bomber only gave him 2 rashers of bacon. "Aww, c'mon, Bomber!"

She gave him a Look. "No, Charge. If you don't want to go on a full-on diet, you have to at least cut back."

"The doctor said it could be a couple of days yet, but she's certain it will happen soon," Buffer ignored the change of topic and answered Charge's question.

ET froze, the spoon in his hand halfway to serving Buffer some eggs. Had he heard right? Nav was waking up already? It had only been… how long _had_ it been? He counted hours and days in his head. Almost 3 days since the shooting, less since she'd fallen into the coma. Was that normal? In movies the coma patients always stayed unconscious for ages.

"Am I allowed to have those, or is Charge's diet for everyone?" Buffer's voice broke into his thoughts.

Mentally shaking himself, ET deposited the eggs on Buffer's plate. This was a good thing, Nav waking up. It meant he would hear her explanation that much sooner. So why was the heavy weight of guilt back on his shoulders?

…………………….

0915 hours

"Ow!" Spider quickly withdrew his legs from the bed and placed them on the floor. That wasn't one of his best ideas. The wound in his abdomen didn't hurt much anymore… well, as long as he didn't do something stupid, like prop his legs up on the bed.

Looking at his surroundings, he sighed. It was still a dull hospital room, but he wasn't the one in the bed and that was all that mattered.

Nav was breathing on her own now, so the rasp of the ventilator no longer competed with the beep of her heart monitor. As he watched the ride and fall of the blanket-covered bump at her abdomen, Spider wondered how everything could have gone so wrong. It was just another FFV, the same illegal fishermen they encountered every other day. Now he and Nav were stuck in hospital and it was possible their lives were irrevocably altered. So much for Navcom's intel. He would never again believe the higher authorities were infallible.

He sighed and scooted closer to the bed, pulling the chair along with his good hand. This whole one-handed thing was getting really tiresome… but at least he was now able to move the other arm without being in excruciating pain. It was progress, no matter how small, and it gave him hope for the future.

Resting the cast – already decorated with the various scrawls of his friends – on the bed next to her leg, his left hand automatically reached out, but stopped a few centimetres from her stomach. There was no way he would have touched Nav without asking if she were awake, so what made him think it was okay to do so now?

"Nav? Is it okay if I touch your belly?" The words were out of his mouth before his brain had processed them and he shook his head when the question reached his ears. What kind of answer did he expect?

"Port 30!"

Spider almost fell off his chair. He definitely hadn't expected that. The hot doctor – Buffer and Charge had congratulated him on scoring such a babe… one who was paid to touch him, no less! – had warned him about movements and her eyes opening, but nothing had been said about random phrases. Apparently it was all part of Nav slowly coming out of the coma. And, he supposed, if she had previously made inarticulate sounds, it made sense she'd begin to speak coherently before she was fully awake… even if 'coherence' was a subjective term in this case.

Though her exclamation was by no means an assent, he couldn't stop his hand from closing the distance between them. Warmth cascaded through his palm; so much hotter than he'd expected, especially given the blanket covering her skin. Looking up at her face, he saw that her eyes were open and directed at him, though there was no comprehension behind the blue-green irises; she saw nothing. The vacant gaze soon gave Spider the creeps, so he turned away. His hand travelled over her bump without direction, the same way his mouth was now moving – babbling without thought.

"…and my physio therapist – his name's Ethan and he's really nice, he's been taking me for walks around the hospital. Apparently you're supposed to get on your feet as soon as possible after surgery, well, I guess that's going to be hard for you, but he'll probably be here helping you exercise or something, even if you can't get up. Anyway, Ethan was telling me about some other patients he's had, whose injuries have been just as bad as mine and they made full recoveries, so there's every chance I could too." Spider forced himself to stop and take a breath. He was well aware he was rambling, but didn't see any reason to stop. After all, who better to jabber to than someone who wouldn't whinge? Not that Nav would have done that when awake anyway; she had always been the one to listen to whatever he – or anyone else – had to say, no matter how inane the subject.

Someone squeezed his hand. He absently squeezed back, mind still on Nav.

"I wonder who it'll look like. The baby, I mean; would be so cute with your eyes and ET's ha-"

_Hang on a sec…_ there was no-one in the room but he and Nav. His hand had slid off her bump to rest next to her hand. So that meant… his eyes flew back to her face; her eyes were open once again, but this time they were focused. On him.

"Josh?"


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

He took her hand without thinking and could tell by her frown that his touch wasn't the one she was expecting. "No, it's Spider."

"Spider?" She looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. "Where am… why am I in the hospital? Why are you here, where's Josh, where a-" Her roving eyes suddenly landed on her stomach and she cut herself off, cradling the bump in one hand.

The expression on her face was one of such love that Spider felt he was intruding just being in the same room. Regardless of what else she had or hadn't done, it was obvious she loved her child immensely. Averting his eyes, he made to get up, but the squeak of his IV pole broke her trance.

"The secret's out, isn't it?" Her question was rhetorical; they both knew she wouldn't have ended up in hospital without the pregnancy being discovered.

He answered it anyway, purely to have an excuse to stay. "Yeah, it is." Spider knew what it was like to wake up disoriented and alone. Even if his face wasn't the one she most wanted to see, if was familiar, and that was all that mattered.

"What happened?"

Was it possible for someone to relax and tense at the same time? Spider thought it was; his shoulder muscles were evidence. While this was more familiar territory than questions about the consequences she would face, he didn't want to be the one to tell her…however there was no one else. Having endured his own frustration when his crewmates were forbidden to simply tell him, Spider knew he had to try and help Nav remember on her own.

"What was the last thing you remember?" he replied, then winced; she glared at him so hard he could have sworn he felt it. "I know it's annoying, they made me do it too."

"You? Why would you hav-ow!" In her struggle to sit up she'd moved her injured shoulder, the pain causing her to flop back into the pillows.

Unable to help himself, Spider peered at her face, waiting for the tears to appear in her eyes the way they had for him. But all she did was grit her teeth, not even a hint of moisture visible. He slumped in his chair, only now realising how uncomfortable it was. How much of a wimp was he? Until the physio had shown him how to lift from the shoulder, he'd blinked back tears every time he accidentally moved his arm. Yet here was Nav, a minute after regaining full consciousness, able to bear the pain stoically. God, he was such a wuss.

"Spi?" Nav's voice broke through his self loathing, and streak of pleasure ran through him when he detected the pain in her voice. So she did feel it.

Not wanting to speak, for fear his mouth would not obey his brain, he merely held up his cast. From her gasp and the shocked look it was obvious she had no clue what had transpired in previous days. Her eyes were now pleading with him to fill her in, but he didn't dare. Swain had incurred the wrath of Dr Patterson when Spider begged him to fill in the blanks in his memory; there was no way Spider would risk it.

But then again, were the doctor's furious honey-coloured eyes any worse than the fear he saw in the turquoise ones in front of him?

"Why can't I remember?" she whispered, hand sliding off her belly to clasp his. "We had shore leave, a late morning start, quiche for lunch and then… nothing. When was that, Spide?"

"Um, about three days ago." His hand was going numb, she was gripping it so tightly, and he struggled to think of an excuse to extract his fingers from hers.

"Three days! I've lost _three_ days?"

Spider's fingers were saved as she let go in order to cover her eyes with a palm. "No, only about two and a half," he said reassuringly, only to recoil when she dropped her hand. Yeah, that doctor had nothing on Nav's glares.

"Cause that's _so_ much better," she retorted, then continued murmuring to herself. Spider tuned it out as he frantically searched his mind for a way to calm her down.

Something fell off the bed, jolted by her movement, and he instinctively caught it. _Of course! I am such an idiot sometimes_, he reprimanded himself, pressing a finger on the button. He should have alerted the nurses the instant Nav became fully conscious.

"Spi, my head hurts." The use of his name brought his attention back to Nav. This time he took no enjoyment in the moisture shimmering in her eyes; he wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone, especially not Nav. "It really hurts." From anyone else it would have come out as a whine, but from Nav it was merely a statement of fact.

"I'll see if I can find you some pain killers." He scrambled out of his chair and was halfway to the door before her voice made him turn back.

"No! Don't leave me." The combination of fear in her voice and the lost little girl look in her eyes was even scarier than the glare, if that was possible.

Keeping his gaze focused on Nav, he continued to move to the door as he reassured her, "I won't leave." His back hit the wall and he reached for the door handle. It turned before he touched it, causing him to stare at it in confusion; had he done that? Had his desperation to open the door without looking away from Nav forced it to move?

A millisecond later the question was answered with a resounding 'no' as a nurse pushed open the door. He recognised her as the 'mean' nurse, though of course she wasn't really mean, just less inclined to chat than the other nurses.

"Ah, uhm, she's awake," Spider began, gesturing lamely toward the bed as if there might have been another awake female elsewhere in the room. "And she says her head hurts. Could she get some painkillers?"

Though she nodded, the nurse bustled past him and over to Nav's bedside, checking the machines standing sentry over her before actually turning her attention to the patient herself. As he also moved back towards Nav, Spider wondered when medicine had become so technologically advanced that machines could tell you more than the live patient could.

Before he actually reached the bed another voice indicated the appearance of a fourth person in the room. "So, our sleeping beauty is now awake."

If the cavalier words surprised the nurse, she didn't show it. Dr Riley Patterson and Spider reached the bed at the same time; this time he didn't hesitate to reach for Nav's hand. The two of them waited without speaking while the nurse and doctor spoke and reviewed Nav's chart.

Eventually Nav couldn't take it anymore. "I'm right here, you know, and I can hear every word you're saying." The spell was instantly broken and all attention focused on her. "My head is killing me. Could I please get something for the pain?"

Spider had to hand it to Nav; she knew how to get her way. The combination of politeness and brutal honesty had the nurse out of the room in an instant, while the doctor turned her eyes to her patient.

"The headache will be the result of your cracked skull," she began, examining Nav's pupils with a flashlight as she spoke. "I'm afraid it'll be pretty bad for the next few days, but we'll keep you comfortable, all you need to do is exactly that-" she indicated the open doorway through which the nurse was now reappearing, "tell us when it hurts."

A look of pure relief crossed Nav's face the instant the medicine was injected into her IV, even though there was no possible way the liquid could have moved into her bloodstream that quickly, let alone begun working. She remained quiet for a few moments, eyes closed and a giant smile on her face as the pain slowly dissipated.

Then her eyes flew open, entirely focused once again. Fixing her gaze on Riley, she asked the question again, "What happened?"

Riley looked at Spider in surprise. "I'm impressed." She quickly turned back to Nav when her patient made a noise close to a growl. "It's better if you try and remember on your own," she said gently.

"But I can't!" Nav finally exploded, her fury causing Spider to shrink back in his seat. "I want to know how I got here, and where the hell Josh is. Tell me!"

Though she did look slightly taken aback at the fire in her patient's eyes, Riley didn't back down. "You've been awake for all of five minutes. Give your brain some time to catch up." The matter-of-fact words calmed Nav down significantly, and stopped the next question before it reached her lips, which gave Riley time to answer one of the previous ones. "Assuming Josh is the father of your child, he and the rest of your Navy friends were tasked yesterday – they left this morning."

With a final comment about scheduling a neurological exam, Riley exited the room, leaving Nav and Spider sitting in silence, both of them staring at her bump.

"Tell me the truth, Spide," Nav eventually said, her voice hoarse with unshed tears. "He hates me, doesn't he?"

"ET? Um, I'm pretty sure he loves you, Nav."

"He hates me," she continued as if he hadn't answered, speaking more to herself than Spider. "I put everything at risk just to satisfy my own selfish desires. Now it's all come out…I don't see how he could _not_ hate me."

Nothing he said was able to distract her – she barely seemed to hear the words – so Spider gave up trying and watched her rock back and forth, cradling her stomach. He didn't know how to say what he was thinking, a realisation that had crept in over the past few days: love and hate weren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

……………………

1230 hours

His lasagne tasted like cardboard. Well, no, that wasn't quite true. Buffer had been rather enjoying his lunch, chatting with Swain as he devoured his first plate of lasagne and salad. The problem came when he returned to the senior sailor's mess with a refill… to find Swain gone and Kate in his place.

She looked up when he entered the room, then lowered her eyes as soon as she realised who it was. Pretending like he hadn't seen the movement, he took a seat across from her and dug into his food.

It wasn't until he put down his cutlery to reach for his drink that he noticed the silence. Kate had stopped eating the second he'd entered the room, so the only noises were made by he himself. He turned to the end of the table and sighed at the sight of the empty chair. It was true: you never realised what you had until it wasn't there. He hadn't understood just how much Nav contributed to the mealtime chatter until she was absent.

The silence was creating an uncomfortable buzzing sound in his ears, and he searched for something to kickstart the conversation. He looked up and opened his mouth, hoping something would fall out; but when he did, she quickly directed her gaze to her plate.

He studied her, wondering what exactly had caused this awkwardness between them. Part of what he loved about his friendship with Kate was the easy camaraderie between them. The shooting had brought out a lot of things previous hidden… some of them not related to either of their injured friends.

And not only was Kate silent, she was fiddling with her cup. Buffer had never seen her doing anything without purpose. She looked nervous, though he couldn't imagine why; it wasn't like anything had happened. But maybe that was the problem. Nav and ET, Bomber and Spider had proved that it was possible to keep your personal relationship separate to your professional one. Could they do it too?

The mere thought caused his stomach to clench, so he pushed his plate away, keeping his eyes on the table. It was the middle of the day and he was at work; he couldn't be thinking about this kind of stuff now. He shot another glance at Kate, and her eyes turned away from him once again. Apparently she couldn't even look him in the face anymore. Heaving a sigh, he picked up his lunch things and exited the room without a word.

As he walked towards the armoury, Buffer's mind was going a hundred miles an hour. Despite his earlier proclamation he wasn't going to think about his personal life at work, he couldn't help wondering what it would be like to date Kate. Her background and personal life was so rarely discussed, it would be as though he was meeting a whole new person. And from what he'd seen over the past few days – her concern for Nav and Spider – he reckoned he'd like that Kate.

But he didn't know if he'd ever get the chance to know her. Judging from the way she had been acting today, she was worrying about things that hadn't even happened. She seemed paralysed, stuck between the past and the future, between he and Mike. If she chose him, would she ever be able to let Mike go?

Buffer sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. Why couldn't he find a woman who would share his feelings? Who would love him back equally? His jealousy of ET was for this reason more so than the Nav-factor; ET had found a partner. Now he had to make sure ET knew just how special that was.

A metallic bang from around the corner brought Buffer out of his musings. Entering the armoury, he found ET leaning against the gun locker, a gun holster on the floor opposite him.

"How long does it take to muster the boarding gear?" he asked, indicating the mostly-blank page ET was using to keep track of faults in the gear.

"A better question: how long does it take to make lasagne from scratch?" ET replied, raising tired eyes to Buffer. "The answer: pretty freaking long." He retrieved the holster from the floor and stood up with a groan. "I have to help Bomber cook, remember? Never knew cooking was so exhausting."

Buffer smirked as he leaned against the wall. "I take it you won't be cooking Nav any get-well food?"

ET blinked, opening and closing his mouth a few times before any words came out. "Uh…I…um, that's different."

"You're damn right it is." His voice was no longer joking, his posture no longer relaxed. "You remember what I told you?"

Now totally confused, ET squinted at Buffer as he put the holster back in its storage area. "Ey?"

"About Nav. And you hurting her."

ET scoffed and looked around the room. "Oh come on, Buff." When he turned his gaze back to Buffer, the bosun hadn't even blinked. "Wh- I have not done _anything_ to Nav, I'd never hurt her!"

"You got her pregnant." Buffer crossed his arms.

Running a hand through his hair, ET smirked. "She definitely wasn't complaining at the time." Buffer still didn't move a muscle. ET's smile slowly fell as he realised Buffer was serious. "Are you freaking kidding me? She's the one who's been keeping secrets. What about when she hurts me?"

"You're a big boy."

"And she's a big girl. Who can not only take care of herself, but also has 4 overprotective older brothers. She doesn't need another one." ET took a step forward and stared defiantly at Buffer, his jaw set. "Or someone who wants her to see him as something more than a friend."

The snide comment made Buffer's stern gaze falter, though only momentarily.

ET continued before Buffer could respond. "You lost, okay? She's never thought of you as anything but a friend. You're just going to have to deal with the fact that she chose me, she loves me…she's having my child! Whatever you feel for her, you have to get over it. And stop threatening me. I will never intentionally hurt Nikki, but it's the nature of long-term relationships that we're going to disagree on occasion. It won't stop us loving one another."

Buffer's expression wasn't what ET expected after his outburst; the bosun was smiling.

"What are you grinning at?" ET snarled, now well and truly annoyed.

"You said it. You love her." Buffer was entirely too pleased with himself for ET's liking.

He blinked. "Yeah, I do."

"So you'll give her a chance to explain herself." It wasn't a question.

"Of course I will." ET nodded firmly, once.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

1620 hours

Thanks to Buffer giving him a whole lot of things to think about, it took ET the better part of three hours to finish mustering the boarding gear. He was actually somewhat grateful for the mindless task; it gave him time to reflect on what had been said.

Having been chased out of the galley after attempting to taste the cake mixture Bomber was preparing, he was now whiling away the hours in the junior sailors' mess. Buffer was on watch, and ET didn't want to be in the same room at the moment. It wasn't like he was avoiding his friend, but neither was he going to go out of his way to spend time with him.

It had now been almost 30 hours since he'd stalked out of the hospital. He wasn't sure why he was keeping count – it wasn't like he was planning to go back to that room any time soon – and yet the hours just kept ticking over in his head. How long did that doctor say it would take her to full come out of the coma?

What if she was already awake, and no-one had thought to let him know?

The startling realisation caused him to tip over his glass. Instead of wiping up the water, he watched, fascinated, as the liquid slowly made its way across the table top. The rocking of the ship didn't stop the flow, just changed the direction.

That was his love life, in a nutshell. He couldn't stop himself from loving Nav any more than he could stop himself breathing. But he could change the direction their relationship was going – even if that wasn't the direction she wanted. It was time for his opinion to matter. And if she didn't get the subtle hints, he was fine with overtly obvious gestures.

His fingers traced nonsensical patterns in the water as his mind wandered. He was on a ship in the middle of the Coral Sea. How exactly was Spider supposed to get a message to him out here? Yeah, there was email and satellite phone, but Spider was in hospital, too, and it wasn't likely that he would have copious internet access there. If Spider had even registered that ET and the rest of the crew might like to know Nav's status, that was. While he wasn't as thick as some of his unfortunate accidents made him out to be, there was no accounting for the boy's naivety at times.

"_Hands to boarding stations. Hands to boarding stations. Hands to boarding stations."_

Kate's voice cut through his thoughts, and he stood up instinctively. It wasn't until he reached the armoury that he remembered why his name hadn't been called.

"Boss said no, ET," Kate said the instant she saw him.

ET opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it. Though he hadn't heard the boss come up behind him, the expressions and slightly stiffened shoulders of those in front of him told the whole story.

The plea was on his lips as he turned around. He didn't care if he sounded like a whining child; anything was better than sitting around with nothing to distract him from his thoughts. "Bo-"

Mike held up a hand, cutting off ET's words instantly. "ET, your... girlfriend is in a coma and she's pregnant with your child."

"I know." Though he tried to keep his voice flat, the look on Mike's face told him he hadn't succeeded. He stood firm while the boss scrutinised him, neither of them oblivious to the curious gazes of the boarding crew.

"Are you sure you want to do this? No-one will think any less of you if you sit this one out." Mike's tone was both a reassurance to ET and a command to the others.

Instead of answering the question, ET allowed his eyes to swing sideways, taking in the gun rack and the Steyr Spider had claimed as his own. He set his jaw and returned his attention to the captain. "I'm the best shot on this ship."

Mike's brow furrowed in confusion. "No, Spider is."

"Exactly," ET replied triumphantly. Several of the curious sets of eyes fell away at that.

"Okay, fine," Mike sighed. "But, and this goes for the rest of you also, remember that these fishermen are not the same ones that injured Nav and Spider. No excessive force."

Nodding sagely, ET turned to grab a holster from Buffer. As he strapped it to his thighs, he thought about what Mike had said. It wasn't something that had crossed his mind. He'd been in the Navy for more than long enough to learn how to separate every boarding as unique, and he truthfully had not even thought about the similarities between today and three days ago. But, now that the topic had been brought up, he couldn't take his mind off it.

…

As soon as Mike gave his okay for ET to join the boarding party, all eyes turned to the Leading Seaman. Kate's attention was quickly diverted, however, by movement near the storage locker. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Mike quietly locked the cabinet and exited the room.

Turning to face the rest of the party, Kate saw Buffer's gaze moving from the door to her. She tilted her head to the storage locker, then raised an eyebrow. The flawless unspoken communication that served them so well on boardings worked just as well inside. Buffer understood her perfectly, and nodded his assent.

Kate didn't even have to think about where Mike might be; her feet led her straight to his cabin. The door was ajar, but she still knocked, allowing her knuckles to push it open slightly.

His back was to the door, though there was no mistaking the Kevlar vest he was hastily strapping on. Despite the knock, he apparently didn't know anyone was watching, for he remained focused on his task. For a moment Kate merely observed, musing on why he'd surreptitiously taken the vest when everyone on the bridge would know he was wearing it. Then she cleared her throat.

He spun around so fast that a loose strap hit him in the face. "Kate."

"You know," she began, moving into the room and closing the door. "Nikki being shot was a total fluke. It was in no way your fault."

"I know that. Doesn't mean I can't take precautions against it happening again." He fastened the final strap, securing it tightly.

She sat on the edge of his desk with a sigh. "So you're going to wear a vest, just because you're on the bridge deck and could possibly be hit by another fluke shot. What's next? You going to have everyone on the bridge in vests? Everyone on the entire ship?"

Mike looked down at his hands, which were fiddling with the bottom of the vest. Kate's gaze followed his, and she stood up to still his fingers. The touch of his skin against hers caused her to draw in a quick breath. When she looked up, her eyes were captured by his blue ones, and a chill ran up her spine, completely contrasting the warmth of his hands.

"You can't save us all, Mike," she whispered, feeling his breath on her lips. "We're Navy, risk is a part of the job. The ship needs to be thought of as impregnable, even if, logically, we know it isn't. It's about the morale of the crew." As she spoke, she was undoing the buckles of his vest. "Kevlar belongs on boardings and known dangerous situations, not every day patrols. We need to have faith in one another, not rely on mechanical protection."

With a final tug, the last buckle was undone, and the vest slid sideways. Kate pulled it over his head and gathered it in her arms.

"Nikki's condition is more to do with her own stupidity regarding her pregnancy than your leadership, or even the actual shots. She'll come out of the coma soon enough, then we can berate her for being so silly." Kate smiled reassuringly, then left the room.

As she closed the door, she heard the ping of a new email arriving.

…

1640 hours

It was incredibly disorienting to wake up from what you _thought_ was a pleasant sleep, only to find out it was two days later. Even worse, she had absolutely no recollection of how she'd ended up in hospital. Spider was being uncannily cagey about the situation, and the doctors absolutely refused to elaborate any further than the details of her injuries.

When she searched her own memory, all she found was the morning before everything had gone to hell. Though the early hours of that day hadn't exactly been a picnic, either. She would never forget the look on his face when he saw her swollen stomach. Inside a second he'd gone from confused through shocked and right onto hopeful. There hadn't been any time to talk, to find out how he felt… but she didn't really need words. The happiness in his expression, mere moments after he'd found out, had told her everything she needed to know. And it had absolutely terrified her.

Children had always been in her life plan, but she didn't know if now was the right time. In fact, she was pretty confident it wasn't. Her career was flourishing; she was on track for a promotion in the near future, and Mike had recently agreed she could learn boarding tactics. Then the stick had turned pink, and all her attention had focused on hiding her condition. Just until she figured out what she wanted to do. But those few weeks she'd given herself to make a decision stretched to a month, then two.

Pulling up her gown, she rested both hands on her bare stomach. Ripples against her palms echoed the kicks she could feel inside, and reminded her just how much she'd screwed this up. In less than three months this baby was going to arrive. And she was yet to decide.

Whenever she had envisioned her future family, it had always been with a husband by her side, one with whom she would make decisions about children and her career. She had considered where her relationship with ET would go, had wondered if they would make it as far as the aisle. But then, mere months after she'd finally agreed to give things a shot, she had found herself pregnant. Nav knew ET wanted kids, had seen how devastated he'd been when Susie had terminated the pregnancy without consulting him.

Yet she'd taken control away from him again. His ex-girlfriend had told him about the result of a one night stand. But Nav, his current girlfriend, had actively hidden the truth from him. She wouldn't be surprised if he never forgave her. And, after seeing his face when he finally did find out, she wasn't sure she could forgive herself.

Shaking her head, Nav spoke aloud to the child inside her. "I messed up, little one. Why on earth did I not just tell him?" She knew why. It was the same reason she'd hidden it from everyone else, the reason she'd stoically borne all the side effects alone. Denial.

A knock at the door brought Nav out of her introspection, and she barely had time to look up before it opened. An obstetrics technician entered, bearing a familiar machine, and Nav couldn't help the grin that spread over her face. She folded her gown and the blanket to reveal her entire stomach.

Despite her initial happiness at the prospect of seeing for herself that her child was okay, there was a dull ache in the pit of her stomach. An ultrasound was something two expecting parents should share. For the past four months she'd been sleepwalking through appointments; she did everything required of her pregnant self, but refused to allow herself to think about it. Now, all the emotions she'd suppressed were hitting her full force, and she stifled a sob. ET had missed so much of this pregnancy already, and she had thought it would change when he learned the truth. She should have known better; absent partners were the curse of Navy wives throughout the world.

The technician was still situating herself beside Nav when Spider walked through the half-open door. He took one look at Nav's exposed skin and turned to walk out, his face bright red.

She laughed. "It's okay, Spide, you can come in."

Before he had a chance to turn around, however, a tiny brown blur ran into the room and tangled between his legs.

"Pidey!" Chloe exclaimed when she recognised him, and Nav smiled to see his face instantly relax. He hugged her to his legs as best he could with one hand and an IV.

Sally followed her daughter into the room, a wide grin on her face and a bouquet of flowers in her hand. Instantly recognising the monitor sitting next to Nav's bed, her expression quickly turned to one of excitement.

The sadness Nav had been feeling about doing this without ET – again – slowly evaporated. True, the father of her child was, yet again, going to miss out, but at least she had her friends.

Rescuing Spider from the clutches of her daughter, Sally marched toward the bed. Nav held out her good arm and, with a remonstration to 'be good', Sally deposited Chloe on the bed for a cuddle with "Aunnie Nikki". Chloe was fascinated with Nav's bandages and tubes, asking endless questions and reaching out to touch. Before she could get it into her head to try tugging on the tube hanging down beside her head, the technician on the other side of the bed cleared her throat.

"Do you want to take a look at your baby now?"

"A baby?" Chloe repeated, thoroughly confused.

"Yes, honey," Nav replied, placing Chloe's little hand on her rounded stomach. "A baby is growing in here."

While Chloe was staring, wide eyes, at Nav's belly, Sally took the opportunity to lift her off the bed. Obviously impatient, the technician waited a second after Chloe's toes cleared the blanket to apply the gel for the ultrasound.

Within seconds the room was filled with a fast thumping.

"That's the heartbeat?" Spider asked in awe, causing Nav to look up sharply. She'd forgotten he was even in the room.

"Yes, that is a nice, strong heartbeat," the technician replied, her eyes fixed on the screen in front of her. She fiddled with a few knobs and moved the wand around a bit, then announced, "And that is your baby."

Tears sprang, unbidden, to Nav's eyes. She'd seen the image multiple times before, but never had she actually been relieved to see her progeny in black and white. "It's okay?" she whispered, reaching out a hand to touch the screen.

"The baby is fine. Your injuries don't seem to have affected it at all. The heartbeat is strong and healthy, movement is normal for 29 weeks." As she spoke, the technician flipped the monitor to a 3D view. The adults all gasped when the baby visibly curled fingers in a fist before their eyes.

Chloe strained in her mother's arms, pointing a fist at the screen. "Me do that."

"You do, Chlo," Sally replied distractedly, moving Chloe's hand so it didn't disrupt her view of the screen.

"It's so real," Spider breathed as they watched the baby tuck its fist in its mouth.

The technician moved the wand across Nav's stomach, and the image on the screen scrolled to a view of the umbilical cord. "Did you want to know the sex?"

Nav managed to tear her eyes away from her child, to take in the expressions of her friends. Spider was nodding eagerly, while Sally looked sympathetic. Chloe chose this moment to break out of her mother's hold and squirm onto the bed. Her fingers were making patterns in the gel on Nav's stomach before Sally gathered her daughter back into her arms.

Playing with Chloe's fingers, Nav looked back at the technician. "No, thanks." Spider began to protest, so Nav turned her gaze on him. "I need to talk to Josh about it. If we do find out, he should be here."

The technician nodded sympathetically, apparently used to absent fathers-to-be. Well, that was likely, Nav mused. After all, this was the closest hospital to the Carins Navy base. Any spouses living in Navy accommodation were likely to come to this hospital.

Handing Nav some tissues to clean herself up, the technician packed up her equipment and left the room. On her way out, she promised to get a DVD of the ultrasound to Nav as soon as possible.

The moment the door closed, Nav turned back to Sally, welcoming the hug she knew would be coming. Her right shoulder was immobilised, and the movement of her injured leg was restricted by bed rest, so her pain was minimal. The pounding from her cracked skull was dulled by the morphine; now it was no worse than the headaches she had experienced during pregnancy.

Thus she hugged her friend back as hard as she could. It was the first less-than-tentative contact she'd had with anyone since waking up. And she relished it.

Now that her pregnancy was out in the open, she knew everyone who looked at her would see her swollen belly first. Even ET, in the few short hours before they'd reboarded Hammersley, had treated her like a piece of china. It had infuriated her, and the last words she'd spoken to him before they stepped onto the dock were ones of anger.

She wondered whether ET was thinking about the fight; if he would ever be able to trust her words again, after she had lied to him for so long. _Well, at least you both have trust issues now_, she thought sardonically.

Sally pulled out of the hug, and Nav opened her eyes once more. Her vision was all blurry. For a moment she was confused as to why, then Sally handed her a tissue. Taking it with a grateful smile, she dabbed at her eyes and blinked until things came back into focus.

"Hormones," she said wryly, crumpling the tissue into a ball.

"I know how that is." Sally lifted Chloe off the bed and placed her on the ground, propelling her gently toward Spider. "So have you spoken to Josh?" she asked as she pulled a chair right up against the bed.

For a few minutes things were peaceful, with Spider entertaining Chloe as the two women caught up. Then Spider cried out, pain obvious in his tone.

"What happened?" Sally was instantly by his side, pulling Chloe away.

His jaw was tight and he clutched his injured wrist. "I'm okay, she just caught me by surprise." Taking deep breaths, he blinked a few times then stilled. His head snapped up, eyes wide. "My fingers. I can feel them."


End file.
